Poland comes second in the EU in terms of consumer patriotism

The Buy Locally Index developed by Grant Thornton is 70.1 points for Poland. Only Spain has a higher rate among the 10 largest economies in the EU, according to Grant Thornton's "Buy Locally Index" study.

Polish consumers are one of the most prone to consumer patriotism among large EU economies. due to their limited production base) only Spain is ahead of it. Poles are more likely to buy local products than the French or the Dutch, often associated with economic patriotism, and are clearly ahead of the Germans in this respect.

The overtaking of Germany or France, usually cited as examples of consumer patriotism, is all the more surprising as in these countries the import of consumer goods in total consumption is only 14.2% and 12.7%, respectively, and in Poland this percentage is 18.9%. thus, statistically, Poles buy imported goods more often than the Germans or the French.

When calculating our Buy Locally Index, we took into account not only the above-mentioned simple share of consumer goods imports in consumption, but also the so-called complexity ('self-sufficiency') of the analyzed economies. We used the Economic Complexity Index developed by the Center for International Development at Harvard University, because it is much easier to be a consumer patriot in a country with a high complexity of domestic industry, i.e. in an economy where the shelves are almost all locally produced products, and much more difficult in a country where the industry does not have such a rich offer and e.g. only every second product in the store is domestic.

The Buy Locally Index largely eliminates this effect and treats all major EU countries fairly.

Of course, it cannot be denied that consumers in Germany in percentage (as part of their expenses) and nominally (in euro) spend significantly more on German products than consumers in Poland on Polish products. Our index measures something else, however - it measures the inclination of consumers. to consumer patriotism, that is, it checks how determined local communities are to choose local products. And in such an approach, Polish consumers look great," said Tomasz Wróblewski, managing partner at Grant Thornton.

The tendency to economic patriotism is decreasing in almost the entire European Union. Among the 10 largest economies in the EU, the share of imported consumer goods in total consumption increased from 16.4% in 2010 to 20.2% in 2020. In Germany, this ratio increased from 11.3% to 14.2%, and in France from 10.7% to 12.7%. Against this background, Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries perform even worse - the increase in the share of imported consumer goods in total consumption is even stronger here. In Poland, in 2010-2020, this ratio increased by 2/3 - from 11.3% to 18.9%.

Source: Grant Thornton and ISBnews