Romania’s GDP Per Capita Is Close to Poland’s

Eurostat shows that in 2023, Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Netherlands remained the wealthiest European nations, while France is at the EU average, Germany is just above it, and Italy is below it. This means that almost nothing has changed at the peak of this ranking. However, Romania’s GDP per capita exceeded Hungary, Greece, and Bulgaria, which is quite a performance for a country considered once the poorest in the region.

The indicator of GDP per capita is more often considered one of economic efficiency than of a nation’s prosperity; it is a ratio between what a country manages to produce (in current prices) and the number of its inhabitants. It can reflect a lower degree of employment of the population (the cases of the countries in the south of the union, especially Italy, Greece, Romania or Bulgaria) or a high degree of profitability, Ireland and Luxembourg being countries where global multinational companies with very high profits are registered large (which do not necessarily remain in the respective countries).

Regarding Romania, the index shows a slight improvement in 2023, from 76% in 2022 to 78% of the European Union average. Romania has surpassed Hungary, a premiere, and currently lags behind Poland (80% of the EU average), which it has slightly approached.

The data are provisional and could be rectified in June, depending on the recalculation of the economic performances reported by the statistical institutes of the member countries.