Malta's GDP per capita, a third below EU average

Malta's Gross Domestic Product per capita in terms of purchasing power standards has reached 69 per cent of the average in current EU member states, according to a new study by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Communities.

Cyprus is the best performer among the acceding and candidate countries, reaching 76 per cent of the 15 EU member states' average in 2002. It even outperforms Greece and Portugal, which both stand at 71 per cent.

Slovenia is in second place with Malta, both with 69 per cent.

Following them are the Czech Republic (62 per cent), Hungary (53 per cent), Slovakia (47 per cent), Poland (41 per cent), Estonia (40 per cent), Lithuania (39 per cent) and Latvia (35 per cent).

Candidate countries are further behind, with Romania at 27 per cent, Bulgaria at 26 per cent and Turkey at 25 per cent.

Luxembourg recorded a figure about 90 per cent above the EU average, Ireland 25 per cent above and Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria a little more than 10 per cent above average.

Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom were around the average whereas Spain was about 15 per cent below and Greece and Portugal about 30 per cent below.

GDP per capita data in purchasing power standards for 1995 to 2000 has been revised by Eurostat. This major revision, involving 16 months of work by Eurostat and the national statistical institutes of the 31 countries participating in the Eurostat coordinated group of the European Comparison Programme, was undertaken in order to bring the underlying data fully in line with the current version of the European System of Accounts (ESA95).

When compared over a longer time period the per capita GDP indices show a relatively stable pattern. Over the entire period, from 1995 to 2002, only Ireland has significantly changed its grouping, moving from 90 per cent of the EU average in 1995 to 125 per cent in 2002.

Germany, France, Italy and the UK remained in the group around the EU average over the whole period. Yet, there were significant developments for the individual countries. The UK showed an upward trend while Germany and Italy saw downward tendencies. France, on the other hand, remained at about three per cent to five per cent above the EU average in all years.

Greece, Spain and Portugal have all progressed towards the EU average between 1995 and 2002, as have a number of acceding countries.