What does the Spanish population know about inflation?
Imagine five siblings receive 1.000 Euros as a gift. If they share the money equally, how much would each receive? Now imagine that the five siblings have to wait one year to receive their share of the 1.000 Euros, and that the inflation rate that year is 1%. In a year’s time they would be able to buy:
- More than what they would be able to buy today.
- The same amount.
- Less than what they would be able to buy today.
A representative sample of adult Spanish citizens (between ages 18 and 79) answered this question within the Survey of Financial CompetencesAbre en ventana nueva, performed jointly by Banco de España and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), as part of the Financial Education Plan, and included under the National Statistical Plan.
The results show that more than half of the interviewees (58%) answered this question correctly, while 33% answered incorrectly and the remaining 9% did not know the answer.
- By autonomous regions, Aragón, Cantabria and Navarra stand out with a higher hit rate (between 70% and 74%), while Extremadura, Murcia and Balearic Islands show lower rates (51% and 50% respectively).- ver con Ana
- By gender, correct answers given by women is 9% lower than the rate of correct answers given by men (63% of men answer correctly versus 54% of women). The rate difference of incorrect answers is only 4 points, because 11% of women answered they didn’t know, versus 6% of men.
- By the interviewee’s household income: 75 % of households with an income over 44.500 Euros have responded correctly versus 47% of those with an income up to 14.500 Euros.
- By educational level, which is also relevant: 70% of interviewees with university education responded correctly versus 48% of those with primary schooling.
- There are different response patterns to questions when comparing across different age groups: those under 35 have the lowest percentage of correct replies (49% respond correctly), while those between 45 and 54 have a higher percentage (65%).
Giving the correct answer requires understanding that a certain amount of money will lose its purchasing power when prices rise, so, which would your answer be?
Answers to the question about inflation, by educational level
Answers to the question about inflation, by age groups
Answers to the question about inflation, by autonomous regions
