Redditors from poorer countries in Eastern Europe/the Balkans, how does everyday life in your country differ from more economically developed Western European countries?

So the question I really wanted to ask was "what's it like being poor in your country" but I couldn't find a way of saying that without a) being misinterpreted and b) sounding horribly patronising and insensitive.

For instance, the GDP (PPP) per capita of Ukraine before the Russian invasion was comparable to countries like Paraguay or Egypt. And yet, I'm guessing quality of life in Ukraine would have been considerably better than in Egypt and being poor in Ukraine would have been much less of a daily struggle - child labour was pretty much non-existent and everyone had access to electricity, running water and the like. Sure, some of that is due to the legacy of Communism, but many of these countries suffered absolutely devastating economic collapses after the collapse of the USSR/Yugoslavia that not all of them have recovered from even 30 years later.

So I'm really wondering, what is everyday life like on an average wage, and what would you be able to spend whatever disposable income you had on? How strong is the welfare state and how does the government support you if you are poor and unemployed so that you don't starve to death? How does your country's economic development impact the quality of services/infrastructure (are power outages common?)?