Romania has widest regional economic disparity among EU states

Romania showed the highest regional disparity among its regions of all EU countries while the smallest disparities were in Finland and Portugal, according to 2018 data published by the European statistics office Eurostat.

The disparity was measured in terms of GDP per capita at standard purchasing power parity (PPS), which filter out the effect of different prices among countries.

Among the EU member states with more than two regions (under EU’s NUT regional breakdown), the regional disparity between the regions with the highest and lowest GDP per capita was in Romania, where the GDP per capita in the richest region (Bucharest-Ilfov) was 3.6 times higher the poorest region (North-East).

Romania was followed by Poland and Slovakia (both with 3.3), Hungary (3.2), Ireland (3.1), and the Czech Republic (3), while the lowest disparities were in Finland and Portugal (both with 1.5), Sweden and Austria (both with 1.7), Denmark, Spain and the Netherlands (all with 1.9).

In 2018, the regional GDP per capita (PPS) ranged from 30% of the EU average in Mayotte (a region of France overseas), to 263% in Luxembourg.

In Romania, in the Macroregion One (North-West and Center) the regional GDP per capita at standard purchasing power parity (PPS) was 62% of the European Union average, in the Macroregion Two (North-East and South-East) it was 47%, in the Macroregion Three (South - Muntenia and Bucharest - Ilfov) it was 96% and in Macroregion Four (South-West Oltenia and West) it was 58%.

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