Germans to have more money to spend in 2014

German people would have an average of 586 euros (795 U.S. dollars) more to spend in next year, a study showed on Wednesday. Market research institute GfK forecasted that in 2014, the total purchasing power in Germany would be 1,705.4 billion euros. Based on current population of around 80 million, Germans would have an average of 21,179 euros to pay for their living expenses, clothing, insurance, rent and other associated costs. That would be 2.85 percent higher than in the year of 2013. "Given Eurostat's predicted inflation rate of 1.7 percent and the stable income growth, Germans as a whole can look forward to both a nominal and a slight real-value increase of around 1.1 percent in per-capita purchasing power," said GfK market data expert Simone Baecker-Neuchl. The north port state city of Hamburg would lead the purchasing power list among the 16 states in Germany, with a net income per capita of 23,469 euros, followed by the south state of Bavaria, where people would have an average net income of 23,168 euros. According to GfK, the purchasing power per-capita in eastern German states was expected to continue below the average level. The east state of Saxony-Anhalt occupied the last place with 17,336 euros per person. "There is still a prosperity gap between western and eastern Germany," Baecker-Neuchl said.