Among Baltic states' residents Estonians have the most savings - Swedbank survey

Photo: Panther Media/Scanpix

According to a survey of the Institute for Private Finances at Swedbank most Estonians or 83 percent have savings while 66 percent of Lithuanians and 53 percent of Latvians have set money aside.

Compared to 2011 an improvement in saving behavior can be seen -- the share of people who don't have a monetary buffer has decreased in all three Baltic countries, the institute said.

Although the general number of savers has increased, the sums that people in all three countries have on their bank accounts usually remain below 1,000 euros. To deal with serious surprises a person should ideally have a monetary buffer worth 3-6 months' salary. In the first six months of 2014 the average net salary was 790 euros in Estonia, 551 euros in Latvia and 527 euros in Lithuania.

The ways of saving have remained mostly the same during the past three years. Keeping savings in a bank account is the most common way of saving in the Baltics -- it is preferred by 76 percent of Estonians, 44 percent of Lithuanians and 33 percent of Latvians. In addition, every fifth resident of the Baltic countries has cash savings at home.

Residents of the Baltic countries most often set aside 5-10 percent of their income -- 61 percent of Estonians, 64 percent of Lithuanians and 90 percent of Latvians save up to 10 percent of their income every month.

Like in 2011, the most common reason for not setting aside money is an insufficient income.

The study was conducted in September for Swedbank's Institute for Private Finances by the market research company Spinter tyrimai among 3,070 residents of the Baltic countries aged 15-75.