Comparison of price levels in Europe, 2003

The Statistical Office of the European Commission, Eurostat, just released the first price level adjusted estimates for GDP per capita in the 31 European countries that took part in the 2003 round of the European Comparison Programme. These estimates are based on preliminary National Accounts data for 2003 and extrapolations of the purchasing power parities calculated within the framework of the European Comparison Programme in 2002.

Like in previous years, Luxembourg comes out on top in this comparison, a fact that to a considerable extent can be attributed to special factors affecting the economy of the Grand Duchy. The average GDP per capita of the 15 "old" member states of the European Union stands at 73 per cent of the Norwegian level. Finland has a GDP per capita at about the same level as the EU15 as a whole, whereas the other Nordic countries are doing somewhat better.

The 10 new EU member states have a price level adjusted GDP per capita well below both Norway and the EU15 average. In Poland and the three Baltic countries, the level is barely one third of Norway's. However, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are also among the European countries with the highest growth rates. At the bottom end of the table we find Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, where GDP per capita stands at just around one fifth of the Norwegian level.

Read more about this topic in Eurostat's " Statistics in Focus "