Romanians like to pamper themselves from time to time, as a treat or two helps them cheer up. MasterCards’s recent Annual Treat Index reveals that a third of Romanians like to buy things for themselves once a month and a lower percentage of 18% invest in self-indulging once every six months.

Romanian men prefer to spoil themselves by going out to restaurants while clothes, shoes or bags are the main pleasure for women. The budget for this sort of gifts stays between RON 81 (EUR 18) and RON 200 (EUR 45), reports local Mediafax.

More than half of Romanians, namely 53%, like to buy themselves clothing items, shoes or bags, while chocolate and sweets remain the favorite treats for 46% of respondents.

“The second annual MasterCard Treat Index reveals people have grown more willing to spend on the perfect treat. This year, 42% of the respondents said they’ll buy goody’s to bring them cheer, versus 33% last year. However, while the price of a treat doesn’t matter for most, when it does come to spending big, men are in front,” reads a MasterCard statement.

The European results show that men pamper themselves as often as women, but they get their joy from bigger ticket items: 24% of men versus 13% of women spend on pricier treats such as holidays, entertainment and technology.

The study also reveals that 18% of men spend more than EUR 100 on gifts for themselves, more than double the percentage in women’s case – 8%.

The research was conducted on over 15,100 consumers in 17 countries, namely Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and Romania, between October 1 and October 15, 2014.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com