IRISH PEOPLE TOOK the biggest hit to their finances of any households in the eurozone during the financial crisis.
New figures compiled by the the European Central Bank (ECB) showed the average net worth of households in Ireland dropped €18,474 over the four years to the end of 2013.
While there were gains among some classes of assets in Ireland, they were more than offset with the huge plunge in the values of non-financial assets – reflecting the massive drop in property prices when the housing bubble burst.
The losses for Irish households topped the €16,909 per-capita fall in Greece over the same period and minor losses on average in Italy and Portugal.
At the other end of the scale, Dutch households were the biggest winners – although figures for the country were instead calculated for the four years to the start of 2015.
Click here for a larger version
The gain per capita in the Netherlands was €33,621, ahead of a €24,005 average increase in Belgium and €19,277 rise in Germany for the same period.
Despite the slow recovery in their country’s economy, Spaniards had the biggest per-capita losses to their net worth to the beginning of this year. On average, households in the bailed-out nation were €12,780 poorer than four years earlier.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say