In general economy is not one of my big interests but there is one particular difference which I have noticed between Denmark and Ukraine. I have noticed that the prices of apartments here are very low, also for Ukraine. Usually things here cost about half of what it costs in Denmark, but the apartments are maybe less than one fifth of the price. However many Ukrainians find these prices completely insane. I heard about one guy at the office who pays half his salary to live in a place he bought, but that is something very unusual here I think.
What many Ukrainians probably do not know is that in Denmark it is common that a person pays his entire salary to live in a place he bought, that is if he is living with someone as a couple. This is the middle class model of living, where you make this one big investment and spend the rest of your life slaving to pay it off. In fact I think this may be one of the main 'pillars' of an economy like the Danish, all these people making investments must give the economy some kind of big potential.
If Ukraine is to have a big middle class as the Danish I think they must learn this model of living. But of course the government will then also have to provide the people some kind of social security. As some people at the office told me they are already very dependent on keeping they current jobs.
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3 comments:
Hi Soren! I am Sergey and I am from Ukraine. I really enjoyed your blog and I agree with almost everything. I just wanted to add that I also find the prices for appartments in Ukraine to be completely insane. Maybe they are lower than those in Denmark, but you have to agree that the avarage Ukrainian salary is just nothing compared to the Danish one. In addition take into account that 20 years ago everybody received an appartment from the state just for free; this is how my parents got a flat, for example. Just imagine how the people in Ukraine must be pissed off about all this.
hey Sergey, thanks for the comment! maybe your parents were also pissed that people with connections to the government were given better apartments..? I guess there's enough to be pissed off about in Ukraine..:)
Yes, sure, they were pissed off about this as well! But anyway I would prefer obtaining a free flat, such as my parents got, rather than paying my whole miserable salary for the flat's mortgage for the next 100 years :))
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