Republic ranked second-richest in EU

THE REPUBLIC was still the second-richest country in the EU last year in terms of purchasing power per head, data showed yesterday. The EU’s statistics office said the gross domestic product (GDP) per person in the Republic, as measured by purchasing power standards (PPS), was 40 per cent higher than the EU average in 2008, maintaining its second-place ranking from 2007.

Luxembourg was deemed the only wealthier nation with a purchasing power more than 2.5 times the average in the 27 EU states. However, Luxembourg’s rating benefits from the large number of foreign workers in its economy who are not counted as residents.

The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden were 20-30 per cent above the EU average, while Denmark, the UK, Germany and Belgium, recorded GDP per person of 10-20 per cent above average.

Among the countries deemed poorest by this measure were Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Latvia which had a GDP per resident 60 per cent below the EU average.

Portugal, Slovakia and Estonia were all measured as having a purchasing power of 75 per cent below the EU average.

Malta and the Czech Republic had a GDP per person of 80 per cent or less of the EU average while Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia recorded GDP per person 10 per cent below the average.

The PPS measure is an artificial currency unit used to remove price differences between countries meaning that one PPS unit purchases the same volume of goods and services in all countries.

Eurostat says this measure allows for “meaningful” volume comparisons of economic indicators across countries.