Frankfurt - Consumer price levels in Germany were 5 per cent higher than the average in the European Union's 28 member states in 2017, statistics released Friday showed. The most expensive country within the bloc was Denmark, where the price level was 41.5 per cent above the EU average, according to data from the Federal Statistics Agency.

It was followed by Luxembourg at 26.9 higher, Sweden at 25.5 per cent, Ireland at 25.4 per cent and Finland at 22.2 per cent higher. The cheapest country in the EU was Bulgaria, where consumers pay around half the average level for goods and services. The price range was greatest for alcohol and tobacco, primarily because of varying tax rates. Whereas in Bulgaria alcohol and cigarettes cost half the EU average, similar to the price for other goods and services, in Ireland they are 74 per cent more expensive.

Other areas for widely diverging prices are overnight accommodation and eating out. Denmark and Sweden were the most expensive, with hotel rooms in Bulgaria, Romania and the Czech Republic the cheapest. Moving outside the EU, Iceland is 66 per cent above the EU average, with Switzerland a close second, at 59 per cent higher. The German statisticians based their figures on data from the EU statistics authority, Eurostat.