Brussels, 20/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - According to figures published on 19 February 2009 by the EU statistical office in Luxembourg, Eurostat, per capita GDP in the 271 NUTS-2 regions of the EU27 ranged from 25% of the EU average in the north-east region of Romania to 336% of the EU average in Inner London in the United Kingdom.
The statistics show that in 2006: (1) the four regions at the top of the per capita GDP list were Inner London (UK, 336% of the EU27 average), Luxembourg (267%), Brussels (Belgium, 233%), and Hamburg (Germany, 200%); (2) of the 41 regions with per capita GDP above 125% of the EU27 average, 8 are in Germany, 6 in the UK, 5 in the Netherlands, 4 in Austria, 3 in Spain, 3 in Italy, 2 in Belgium, 2 in Finland, 1 in the Czech Republic, 1 in Denmark, 1 in Ireland, 1 in Greece, 1 in France, 1 in Slovakia, 1 in Sweden and 1 in Luxembourg. Eurostat points out that per capita GDP is strongly influenced by commuters in several regions; (3) the 20 regions with the lowest per capita GDP are all in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania. The lowest per capita GDP is in the north-east of Romania and Severozapadan in Bulgaria (both at 25% of the EU27 average), followed by Severen Tsentralen (27%) and Yuzhen Tsentralen (28%) in Bulgaria. Of the 68 regions with a per capita GDP of less than 75% of the EU27 average, 15 are in Poland, 7 in Romania, 7 in the Czech Republic, 6 in Bulgaria, 6 in Greece, 6 in Hungary, 5 in Italy, the 4 overseas territories of France and Portugal, 3 in Slovakia and 1 each in Spain, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. (G.B./transl.fl)