Europe marks the fourth stop in our continuing series comparing the relative economic performance of the nations of the world with their nearest neighbors!

We've built a dynamic ranking table to show each of the nations' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), 2006 population and their corresponding 2006 GDP-PPP per Capita. We've also determined each country's rate of growth since 2004 by finding the annualized rate of change in their GDP-PPP per Capita!

Once again, we find that the fastest growing nations in our survey all share a unique characteristic, which would seem to be a major factor helping spark their economic growth. We'll identify the Ten New Lions of Europe in our commentary below the table.

As with all our dynamic tables, you may sort the data by clicking on any of the column headings. Doing so will almost instantaneously sort the data in the table from low to high value or from high to low (by clicking a column heading a second time.) To restore the original order, you'll need to refresh the page in your web browser.

2006 GDP-PPP for Europe

Country	July 2006 Est. Population	2006 Est. GDP-PPP	2006 GDP-PPP per Capita	% Change GDP-PPP per Capita, Since 2004
Albania	3,581,655	20,460,000,000	5,712.44	8.0%
Austria*	8,192,880	283,800,000,000	34,639.83	5.2%
Belarus	10,293,011	82,940,000,000	8,057.89	8.9%
Belgium*	10,379,067	342,800,000,000	33,028.02	4.0%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4,498,976	25,280,000,000	5,619.06	-7.3%
Bulgaria*	7,385,367	78,680,000,000	10,653.50	14.0%
Croatia	4,494,749	60,260,000,000	13,406.76	9.4%
Cyprus*	784,301	22,580,000,000	28,789.97	5.0%
Czech Republic*	10,235,455	224,000,000,000	21,884.71	14.1%
Denmark*	5,450,661	201,500,000,000	36,967.99	7.1%
Estonia*	1,324,333	26,850,000,000	20,274.36	18.9%
Finland*	5,231,372	176,400,000,000	33,719.64	7.8%
France*	60,876,136	1,891,000,000,000	31,063.08	4.0%
Georgia	4,661,473	17,880,000,000	3,835.70	11.6%
Germany*	82,422,299	2,630,000,000,000	31,908.84	5.5%
Greece*	10,688,058	256,300,000,000	23,980.03	6.2%
Hungary*	9,981,334	175,200,000,000	17,552.76	8.6%
Iceland	299,388	11,380,000,000	38,010.88	9.2%
Ireland*	4,062,235	180,700,000,000	44,482.90	18.2%
Italy*	58,133,509	1,756,000,000,000	30,206.33	4.4%
Latvia*	2,274,735	36,490,000,000	16,041.43	18.1%
Lithuania*	3,585,906	54,900,000,000	15,309.94	10.5%
Luxembourg*	474,413	33,870,000,000	71,393.49	10.1%
Macedonia	2,050,554	16,940,000,000	8,261.18	7.9%
Malta*	400,214	8,411,000,000	21,016.26	7.5%
Moldova	4,466,706	9,070,000,000	2,030.58	3.4%
Netherlands*	16,491,461	529,100,000,000	32,083.27	4.3%
Norway	4,610,820	213,600,000,000	46,325.82	7.6%
Poland*	38,536,869	552,400,000,000	14,334.32	9.4%
Portugal*	10,605,870	210,100,000,000	19,809.78	5.1%
Romania*	22,303,552	202,200,000,000	9,065.82	8.5%
Slovakia*	5,439,448	99,190,000,000	18,235.31	12.0%
Slovenia*	2,010,347	47,010,000,000	23,384.02	9.2%
Spain*	40,397,842	1,109,000,000,000	27,451.96	8.6%
Sweden*	9,016,596	290,600,000,000	32,229.46	6.5%
Switzerland	7,523,934	255,500,000,000	33,958.30	0.2%
Ukraine	46,710,816	364,300,000,000	7,799.05	11.3%
United Kingdom*	60,609,153	1,930,000,000,000	31,843.38	3.8%
European Union*	456,953,258	13,060,000,000,000	28,580.60	5.8%
Europe (All)	580,485,495	14,426,691,000,000	24,852.80	6.0%

The Ten New Lions of Europe

Assuming you've sorted the table above to make it easy, you've found that the European nations with double-digit rates of growth over the years from 2004 to 2006 are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovakia, and Ukraine. What makes these nations stand out in comparison to their neighbors, or rather, nine of them, is their tax systems and increasing levels of international trade.

Low, or Flat, Taxes

Six of the fastest growing European nations have established flat tax rates for individuals (Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Ukraine). On the corporate side, Ireland has established the lowest corporate tax rate in all of Europe, drawing substantial international investment.

Meanwhile, Luxembourg is considered to be a tax haven and benefits greatly from its much lower taxes compared to those of its neighboring countries.

Trade

Bulgaria and the Czech Republic round out the top ten nations of Europe, and both have benefited greatly by greater ties to international markets since their days under the control of the Soviet empire. Both have increased their economic ties with the European Union, with Bulgaria becoming part of the EU in January 2007.

Sources and Acknowledgements:

• 2006 GDP-PPP Data: The World Factbook, 2007
• July, 2006 Population Estimate: The World Factbook, 2006 via Bartleby.
• Table Sorting Function: The Daily Kryogenix.

Previously on Political Calculations

2006 Economic and Population Data

• Africa GDP Rankings for 2006
• Asia GDP Rankings for 2006
• 2006 GDP Rankings for the Americas

2004 Economic and Population Data

• Pacific Rim: 2004 GDP Rankings
• GDP Rankings in Muslim Nations
• 2004 GDP Rankings for Asia
• European Union 2004 GDP Rankings
• GDP in Africa: 2004
• GDP Rankings of the Americas: 2004 Edition
• EU vs US: Two Years of Economic Data Later....

2002 Economic and Population Data

• EU vs USA
• Cool Tools and GSP
• GDP of the Americas
• GDP in the Muslim World
• GDP in Europe
• GDP: Africa
• GDP Along the Pacific Rim
• GDP in Asia
• GDP: And the rest...

Labels: gdp, rankings

- posted by Ironman at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Home |