Bulgaria at Bottom of EU 2009 GDP Chart

Bulgaria ranks last in the EU in GDP per capita for 2009, Eurostat announced Monday.

The data was based on the first preliminary estimates for 2009 and shows the GDP per inhabitant, expressed in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS), which is an artificial reference currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries.

The data covers the 27 EU Member States, the three candidate countries, three EFTA Member States and four Western Balkan countries.

Bulgaria ranked last with 41% of the average GDP per capita in the 27 EU Member States, followed by Romania with 45%. Luxembourg topped the chart with the highest 268%.

The high level of GDP per inhabitant in Luxembourg was partly due to the large share of cross-border workers in total employment. While contributing to the GDP, they are not taken into consideration as part of the resident population which is used to calculate GDP per inhabitant.

In Finland, France, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Greece, GDP per inhabitant was within 10% of the EU27 average. Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium were between 15% and 35% above the average.

Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia were between 10% and 30% lower than the EU27 average. Hungary, Estonia, Poland and Lithuania were between 30% and 50% lower, while Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria were between 50% and 60% below the EU27 average.

The figures were based on the latest GDP data for 2009. Revised estimates will be published in December 2010.

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