Romania’s GDP accounts for only 1.6% of Europe’s combined economy

In 2020, slightly more than a quarter of the EU’s GDP was generated by Germany (25.1%), followed by France (17.2%) and Italy (12.3%), ahead of Spain (8.4%) and the Netherlands (6.0%), according to Eurostat data.

The biggest three economies thus accounted for over half (55%) of the Union’s economy.

Romania ranked the 13th with a share of 1.6%, at par with (much smaller) the Czech Republic, but for instance, less than half of Belgium (3.4%) has a smaller population.

At the opposite end of the scale, ten EU Member States contributed less than 1% to the EU’s total GDP: Malta (which had the lowest share of EU GDP at 0.1%), Estonia, Cyprus and Latvia (all 0.2%), Croatia, Lithuania and Slovenia (all 0.4%), Bulgaria and Luxembourg (both 0.5%), and Slovakia (0.7%).

When comparing the GDP of 2019 and 2020 in the EU Member States, Spain took the biggest hit (-10.8%), followed by Greece (-9.0%), Italy (-8.9%), Portugal (-8.4%), Malta (-8.2%), Croatia (-8.1%) and France (-7.9%).

The only EU country that registered an increase in GDP in 2020 was Ireland (+5.9%).

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