31 October, the world day of saving

The national statistics office released data on October 31, World Savings Day, indicating that household debt in Slovenia increased last year while declining across the euro area. Measured as the ratio of financial liabilities from loans to gross disposable income, Slovenian household debt reached 41.2 percent. This represented a rise of 0.9 percentage points compared to the previous year. In contrast, debt levels in the euro area fell by 2.1 percentage points to stand at 77.5 percent. Consequently, Slovenian households remained significantly less indebted than the average for the currency zone. Households in Slovenia saved 14.7 percent of their disposable income last year, marking an increase over the prior period. The growth rate of household financial assets exceeded the growth of their liabilities. According to the Bank of Slovenia, total financial assets held by households, which include cash, deposits, shares, and other investments, amounted to 96.1 billion euros at the end of the year. This figure was higher by 8.9 billion euros than in the preceding year. The composition of these financial assets shifted due to stronger growth in equity capital. The value of equity capital rose by 16.8 percent, while bank deposits grew by 7.0 percent. For the first time, the share of stocks surpassed that of bank deposits to become the largest component of household financial holdings. Stocks and other equity capital accounted for 37.3 percent of the structure. Bank deposits followed with 34.8 percent. Assets in the form of insurance and pension schemes made up 10.7 percent, cash represented 8.7 percent, and debt securities plus other claims comprised 4.9 percent. The value of loans remained unchanged at 2.6 percent. In the broader euro area, stocks and other equity capital also represented the largest share of household financial assets at 37.8 percent, followed by bank deposits at 28.0 percent. However, the euro area had a larger share of assets in insurance and pension schemes at 25.2 percent, compared to Slovenia’s 10.7 percent. Conversely, the share of cash was lower in the euro area at 2.9 percent, versus 8.7 percent in Slovenia. Financial liabilities for Slovenian households totaled 19.8 billion euros at the end of the year, an increase of 1.3 billion euros from the previous year. Long-term loans contributed most to this rise, constituting 83.5 percent of all financial obligations. Commercial credits and advances made up 6.2 percent, short-term loans accounted for 5 percent, and other liabilities formed the remainder. Eurostat data placed Slovenia in the middle of the European Union ranking for savings rates among member states with available data. Italy recorded the lowest rate at 10.8 percent, while Czechia posted the highest at 19.2 percent. Czechia overtook Germany, whose rate dropped from 20.0 percent to 18.9 percent. Slovenia’s savings rate was 0.4 percentage points above the EU average of 14.3 percent and equal to the euro area average of 14.7 percent. Historical data shows that the gross savings rate in Slovenia generally trended upward between 2015 and 2025. A sharp peak occurred in 2020 during the first year of the pandemic, reaching 22.6 percent. The rate subsequently declined to 17.0 percent the following year and continued to fall in subsequent years, though it stayed above pre-2020 levels. During this decade, Slovenian savings rates were mostly higher than the EU average. The gap was widest in 2020, when Slovenia stood at 22.6 percent against an EU average of 18.3 percent. Only in the year before last did Slovenia’s rate fall below the EU average by 0.5 percentage points. Last year, the country again exceeded the EU benchmark.