A growing number of Balts are struggling with debt despite the growing economy

In the wake of a long period of economic growth, savings have gone up – but so has indebtedness. A growing number of people are struggling: every fifth European needs to borrow in order to pay bills. That group has increased from 15% three years ago to 20% this year. In the Baltics, the situation differs from country to country. Every third Latvian has borrowed money to pay bills. In Lithuania, the situation is comparable to the EU average (19%), while in Estonia the numbers are relatively low and only 12% of consumers have borrowed money in the last 12 months in order to pay bills.