The Bucharest-Ilfov region stood at 181% of the EU average in 2023, at 174% in 2022 and at 136% in 2015, respectively.
Instead, Romania’s other regions stayed below the EU average: West (78%), Center (71.2%), North-West (70.8%), South-West Oltenia (60%), South-East (59%), South-Muntenia (54.6%) and North-East (48.3%).
Eurostat data also shows that Romania’s capital city Bucharest is in the same income tier with a series of regions in northern Italy, Austria and Germany, namely, Lombardy, Bolzano, Tirol, Salzburg and Bavaria.
In 2024, the regional GDP per capita, expressed as PPS, ranged from 30.1% of the EU average in the French region of Mayotte to 268.3% in the Eastern and Midland region, Ireland’s primary economic hub and most populous area.
In 2024, the real GDP increased across 169 regions in the EU compared to 2023, but decreased acrosss 64 regions.
Bulgaria’s Yuzhen Tsentralen was the region with the highest real GDP growth (+11.6%), followed by Ireland’s Eastern and Midland (+8.5%), and Bulgaria’s Severen Tsentralen (+8.4%).
The biggest decline in real GDP was recorded by Bulgaria’s region of Yugoiztochen (-12.7%), followed by Ireland’s region of Southern (-5.5%).
The PPS is an artificial currency unit. Theoretically, one PPS can buy the same amount of goods and services in each country. However, price differences across borders mean that different amounts of national currency units are needed for the same goods and services depending on the country. PPS are derived by dividing any economic aggregate of a country in national currency by its respective purchasing power parities.