Bulgaria had lowest GDP per capita in EU in 2017 – Eurostat
Bulgaria had the lowest GDP per capita in the European Union in 2017, about 49 per cent of the EU average, according to figures released on June 19 by the bloc’s statistics agency Eurostat.
Bulgaria also had the lowest Actual Individual Consumption (AIC), a measure of the material welfare of households, at 45 per cent below the EU average, Eurostat said.
Eurostat said that based on first preliminary estimates for 2017, AIC per capita expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) varied from 55 per cent to 130 per cent of the EU average across the member states.
Ten Member States recorded AIC per capita above the EU average in 2017.
The highest level in the EU was recorded in Luxembourg, 30 per cent above the EU average.
Germany and Austria were about 20 per cent above, followed by the United Kingdom, Finland, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, and Sweden which all recorded levels between nine per cent and 14 per cent above the EU average.
AIC per capita for 12 EU countries lay between the EU average and 25 per cent below.
In Italy, Ireland and Cyprus the levels were 10 per cent or less below the EU average, while Spain, Lithuania, Portugal and the Czech Republic were between 10 per cent and 20 per cent below.
Malta, Greece, Slovenia, Poland and Slovakia were between 20 per cent and 25 per cent below the average.
Six member states recorded AIC per capita about 30 per cent or more below the EU average.
Estonia, Latvia and Romania were around 30 per cent below, while Hungary and Croatia had AIC per capita just under 40 per cent below the EU average and Bulgaria was 45 per cent below.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, a measure of economic activity, also shows substantial differences between the EU member states. In 2017, GDP per capita expressed in PPS ranged between 49 per cent of the EU average in Bulgaria to 253 per cent in Luxembourg. Eleven member states recorded a level of GDP per capita above the EU average in 2017, Eurostat said.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
