Economies of Member States
Economic performance varies from state to state. The Growth and Stability Pact governs fiscal policy with the European Union. It applies to all member states, with specific rules which apply to the eurozone members that stipulate that each state's deficit must not exceed 3% of GDP and its public debt must not exceed 60% of GDP. However, many larger members have consistently run deficits substantially in excess of 3%, and the eurozone as a whole has a debt percentage exceeding 60% (see below).
The following table shows information relating to the member states of the European Union, ordered according to the 'Size' of their economies. (NB: Were the table ordered according to 'GDP per capita' this would perhaps better reflect the strength of an individual economy. But this is not how such tables are commonly structured.) The colours denote how a member state is performing relative to the rest of the European Union, above average (green) or below average (red). The smallest and greatest values in each column are emphasised.
The data for GDP and GDP per capita (PPP) are based on the World Economic Outlook, October 2012 (International Monetary Fund).
| Member State |
GDP |
GDP |
Annual change |
GDP per capita |
Public Debt |
Deficit (-)/ Surplus (+) |
Inflation |
Unemp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Union | 17,610.8 | 100.0 | 1.5 | 31,673 | 82.5 | -4.5 | 3.1* | 10.7 |
| Germany | 3,607.4 | 20.2% | 3.0 | 38,077 | 81.2 | -1.0 | 2.5 | 5.4 |
| France | 2,778.1 | 15.8% | 1.8 | 35,068 | 85.8 | -5.2 | 2.3 | 10.7 |
| United Kingdom | 2,431.3 | 13.9% | 0.8 | 36,522 | 85.7 | -8.3 | 3.3* | 7.8* |
| Italy | 2,198.7 | 12.7% | 0.4 | 30,464 | 120.1 | -3.9 | 2.9 | 11.1 |
| Spain | 1,479.6 | 8.7% | 0.7 | 30,478 | 68.5 | -8.5 | 3.1 | 26.2 |
| Netherlands | 838.1 | 4.8% | 1.2 | 42,023 | 65.2 | -4.7 | 2.5* | 5.5 |
| Poland | 514.5 | 2.9% | 4.3 | 20,184 | 56.3 | -5.1 | 3.9 | 10.4 |
| Belgium | 514.6 | 2.9% | 1.9 | 37,781 | 98.0 | -3.7 | 3.5 | 7.5 |
| Sweden | 544.7 | 2.8% | 3.9 | 40,705 | 38.4 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 7.7 |
| Austria | 418.4 | 2.3% | 3.1 | 41,556 | 72.2 | -2.6 | 3.6* | 4.3 |
| Denmark | 333.0 | 1.9% | 1.0 | 37,048 | 46.5 | -1.8 | 2.7 | 7.7 |
| Greece | 399.3 | 1.9% | -6.8 | 26,258 | 165.3 | -9.8 | 3.1 | 25.4* |
| Finland | 263.5 | 1.5% | 2.9 | 35,981 | 48.6 | -0.5 | 3.3 | 7.7 |
| Portugal | 237.8 | 1.4% | -1.6 | 23,363 | 107.8 | -4.2 | 3.6 | 16.3 |
| Ireland | 221.2 | 1.3% | 0.9 | 40,838 | 108.2 | -13.1 | -1.6* | 14.7 |
| Czech Republic | 215.2 | 1.2% | 1.7 | 27,063 | 41.2 | -3.1 | 2.1 | 7.3 |
| Romania | 189.8 | 1.0% | 2.5 | 12,493 | 33.3 | -5.2 | 5.8 | 6.9 |
| Hungary | 140.3 | 0.8% | 1.7 | 19,591 | 80.6 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 10.8 |
| Slovakia | 96.1 | 0.5% | 3.3 | 23,304 | 43.3 | -4.8 | 4.1 | 14.0 |
| Luxembourg | 59.6 | 0.3% | 1.1 | 80,559 | 18.2 | -0.6 | 3.7 | 5.1 |
| Bulgaria | 53.5 | 0.3% | 1.7 | 13,789 | 16.3 | -2.1 | 3.4 | 12.6 |
| Slovenia | 50.3 | 0.3% | -0.2 | 28,843 | 47.6 | -6.4 | 2.1 | 8.6 |
| Lithuania | 42.7 | 0.2% | 5.9 | 19,125 | 38.5 | -5.5 | 4.1 | 12.4 |
| Latvia | 28.3 | 0.1% | 5.5 | 16,818 | 42.6 | -3.5 | 4.2 | 14.2* |
| Cyprus | 24.7 | 0.1% | 0.5 | 27,521 | 71.6 | -6.3 | 3.5 | 12.9 |
| Estonia | 22.2 | 0.1% | 7.6 | 20,379 | 6.0 | 1.0 | 5.1 | 9.6* |
| Malta | 8.9 | 0.1% | 2.1 | 25,598 | 72.0 | -2.7 | 2.4* | 6.6 |
Read more about this topic: Economy Of The European Union
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