A new study looked at how many hours the streaming platform's subscribers in 100 countries have to work to afford the cost of a monthly subscription.
The study carried out by the cloud computing company Cloudwards found that subscribers in Romania should work approximately 1 hour and 57 minutes for the Standard subscription, 1 hour and 40 minutes for the basic version and 2 hours and 29 minutes for the Premium version.
In Romania, the price of the basic monthly subscription (called “Minimum” by Netflix) is 5.99 euros, the Standard one costs 10.99 euros and the Premium one – which allows streaming at Ultra HD + HDR resolution, plus simultaneous streaming on 4 devices – 13.99 euros.
Cloudware did the calculations in dollars and reported the cost of the subscription to the median income in each of the 100 countries it included in the study. Unlike the average wage – which divides the total amount of wages by the total number of employees in a country -, the median income is the sum of incomes at which a population can be divided into two equal groups: half having an income higher than that amount, and the other half a lower income.
The calculations were made based on the 8-hour working day.
The countries where the Netflix subscription is most affordable
According to the methodology used by Cloudware, the country where the Netflix subscription is most affordable is Norway, where the Standard version can be paid after only 24 minutes of work in a month.
The rankings are followed by Luxembourg (26 minutes), Iceland (30 minutes), Belgium (34 minutes), the Netherlands (36 minutes).
Although the price for Netflix's Standard subscription is the highest in the US ($17.99 per month), the high median income of Americans places the country where the streaming company was founded in 6th place in the ranking, with 37 minutes of monthly work.
A surprise in 7th place, with 38 minutes of work, is represented by Slovenia, partly due to the lower cost of the subscription ($9.13).
Australia, Finland and Germany follow, tied at 39 minutes.
How does Romania stand in the Netflix accessibility ranking
Countries where employees must work more than an hour each month to afford Netflix's Standard subscription, from 21st down in the ranking, include Spain (1 hour and 2 minutes), Cyprus (1 hour and 4 minutes), Great Britain (1 hour and 5 minutes), Malta (1 hour and 10 minutes), Latvia (1 hour and 12 minutes), Lithuania (1 hour and 13 minutes). Next in position 27 is Greece, with 1 hour and 27 minutes.
Bulgaria is 31st in the ranking, with 1 hour and 44 minutes. Poland is 33rd, with 1 hour and 47 minutes, followed by Romania and Slovakia, with 1 hour and 57 minutes. Hungary is in the 38th position in the ranking of the 100 countries, with 2 hours and 5 minutes.
Considering the methodology used, low-income countries are at the bottom of the ranking, although Netflix offers its Standard subscription in these markets for only $7.99 per month.
Thus, in countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Niger and Zimbabwe, those who want to benefit from a Netflix Standard subscription will have to work for it between 12 and 14 hours.
In Ethiopia, the indicator is 17 hours and 15 minutes, equivalent to more than 2 working days in an 8-hour schedule. On the last place in the ranking, at a great distance from the rest of the countries, is Rwanda, with 35 hours and 12 minutes, equivalent to 4 days and 3 hours of work.
The full study and rankings can be found on the Cloudwards website.
PHOTO article: Oleksandr Lutsenko / Dreamstime.
