Eurostat has published the ranking of states by GDP/capita level. The comments of the Spaniards, Bulgarians and other inhabitants of Europe

Eurostat recently published the ranking of European states according to GDP/capita at purchasing power parity. The Facebook post that accompanied the ranking drew some snarky comments from citizens of various states.

What the Bulgarians, the Spanish, the Greeks, and also the Romanians say about the Eurostat top:

Dobrin Stanev – Bulgaria: Very curious. Until now we were compared to our neighbors to the north, with whom we shared the last places, and now we are compared to our neighbors to the south.

Mauro Dee- Spain: It’s easy to be at the top when countries like Luxembourg, Holland and Ireland base a large part of their economy on tax dumping that helps big financial and technology corporations and then we divide the numbers by the small population they have. Tax dumping should be banned/completely reviewed in Europe as it distorts the balances in Europe (ask Irish white collars how hard it is to pay rent in Dublin or Galway)

Magda Jianu- Romania: Well done, Romania, keep going. May!

Luís Frederico Rosa- Spain: Spain is slowly getting poorer. Not long ago it was among the rich countries of Europe. Italy can no longer grow, France and Portugal are also on divergent paths. Something is wrong in these countries and the funny thing is they all share the same culture and values.

Miloš Veselý- Czech Republic: I am glad to see that we have surpassed all the Mediterranean countries.

Ilian Petrov- Bulgaria: Actually, the last 10 are very similar…. The EU is not what it used to be… Good job, Romania.

Marius Tarbus- Romania: It seems that my dear Romania has overtaken my dear neighbor Hungary. It was only a matter of time. The largest economy (Romania) in Southeast Europe and the second in Eastern Europe after Poland, will enter the top 10 in Europe in 10-20 years.

Davide Parenti, Italy: Italy has the same GDP/capita as Spain, but the cost of living is much closer to Germany (which is much richer than Spain). Italy is a place where life is hard, especially for young people, unless you are rich and don’t need to work.

Marius Ileni, Romania: The lowest GDP per capita in Europe is higher than the world average. Basically, Bulgaria is richer than the world average. Europe has a high quality of life, despite the latest developments.

Nikolaos Papadakis, Greece: The less military a country has, the richer it is.

What Eurostat data shows

In 2023, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita expressed at purchasing power parity varied between 64% of the EU average in Bulgaria and 240% in Luxembourg, according to Eurostat. The figures are expressed in PPS which eliminates the differences between the price level at the level of the countries, allowing to make comparisons of the volume of GDP or GDP/capita between the states.

The data also show substantial differences in GDP per capita between EU countries. Luxembourg and Ireland had the highest levels (140% and 112% above the EU average respectively), well ahead of the Netherlands (30% above the EU average), Denmark (+28%) and Austria (+23%) .

In contrast, Bulgaria recorded the lowest GDP per capita, 36% below the EU average, followed by Greece (-33%) and Latvia (-29%).