Prague Is Twice as Rich as the EU Average. Two Hours Away, the Czech Region of Severozápad Is Below Two Thirds.
Silver Data Lab Research Desk · Statistical analysis · Published on 13 February 2026
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- Data source
- Eurostat
- Reference period
- 2023
- Last updated
- 27 August 2026
Key estimates
- EU regional GDP per capita averaged 38,400 purchasing power standards in 2023 across 244 NUTS 2 regions.
- Eastern and Midland in Ireland records 96,300, or 251% of the EU average.
- Mayotte records 11,000, or 29%.
- Nineteen regions are above 150% of the EU average and fourteen below 50%.
- France contains the poorest region in the Union and, in Île de France, one of the richest — a spread of 5.6 to one, the widest inside any Member State.
What national averages hide
A national GDP figure averages a country's regions together. Europe's statistical grid divides the Union into 244 regions — the level statisticians call NUTS 2 — and the distance between them is far wider than the distance between Member States.
The EU average in 2023 was 38,400 purchasing power standards per inhabitant. The regional figures run from 96,300 to 11,000: a ratio of nearly nine to one, against a ratio of about four between the richest and poorest Member States in the same year.
The top, and the caution attached to it
Eastern and Midland in Ireland records 96,300, Luxembourg 95,100 and Southern in Ireland 87,900.
The Irish regions carry the same distortion as the Irish national figure. Output booked by foreign-owned firms enters Irish GDP, and both Irish regions are affected. Neither number describes what people in them earn, and the companion study on national GDP per capita sets out the mechanism.
Behind those, Praha records 75,700, Hamburg 75,000, Brussels 73,100 and Bucureşti-Ilfov 69,400.
The commuting distortion
Praha, Brussels, Hamburg, Bucureşti-Ilfov, Île de France, Wien: the top of this ranking is a list of capital and major-city regions.
Part of that is real — capitals concentrate high-value activity — and part of it is measurement. Regional GDP counts output where it is produced. Population is counted where people live. Anyone who commutes into a capital adds to its output and to the population of the region they sleep in.
For a small, tightly drawn capital region with a large commuter belt, this inflates GDP per capita substantially and deflates it in the surrounding region. Brussels at 73,100 against Prov. Vlaams-Brabant nearby is the clearest European example of the pair.
This is the same measurement issue that produces the capital-city paradox in regional employment data, and it means a capital region's position on this ranking should never be read as the income of the people living there.
The gaps inside countries
The widest divergences are internal.
France contains Île de France at 61,500 and Mayotte at 11,000 — a ratio of 5.6 to one inside a single Member State, and wider than the gap between the richest and poorest EU countries.
Romania follows: Bucureşti-Ilfov at 69,400 against Nord-Est at 17,900, a ratio of 3.9. Then Hungary at 3.4 with Budapest against Észak-Magyarország, and Czechia at 3.2 with Praha against Severozápad.
At the other end, Finland's internal ratio is 1.5, Austria's 1.7 and Sweden's 1.8. These are countries where where you live matters comparatively little for the output around you.
The pattern is that central and eastern Member States have one region far ahead of the rest, usually the capital, and the Nordic countries do not. Convergence between EU countries and convergence within them are different processes, and the second is not following the first.
Regional GDP per capita, 2023
| Country | purchasing power standards per inhabitant | Gap to EU averagepercentage points, derived |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern and Midland (IE) | 96,300 | +57,900.0 |
| Luxembourg | 95,100 | +56,700.0 |
| Southern (IE) | 87,900 | +49,500.0 |
| European Unionaggregate | 38,400 | — |
| Voreio Aigaio (EL) | 16,200 | −22,200.0 |
| Yuzhen tsentralen (BG) | 15,700 | −22,700.0 |
| Mayotte (FR) | 11,000 | −27,400.0 |
What these figures cannot tell you
- Produced here, lives there
- GDP is measured where output occurs and divided by resident population. Commuters inflate capital regions and deflate their surroundings, which affects every capital in this ranking and makes regional GDP per capita a poor proxy for regional income.
- Ireland is distorted by multinational accounting
- Output booked by foreign-owned firms enters Irish GDP and therefore Irish regional figures. Both Irish regions in the top three are affected, and neither describes local earnings.
- Non-EU regions are in the source and excluded here
- The dataset covers candidate countries and EFTA states. Turkish and Serbian regions occupy several of the lowest positions in the raw data; this study reports EU regions only, so those are not shown.
- 2023, not 2025
- Regional accounts are compiled with a longer lag than national ones. These figures are two years behind the national GDP study on this site and are not directly comparable with it.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is the richest region in the EU?
- Eastern and Midland in Ireland, at 96,300 purchasing power standards per inhabitant in 2023 — 251% of the EU average. Like the Irish national figure, it is inflated by output booked by foreign-owned firms and does not describe local earnings.
- Which is the poorest region in the EU?
- Mayotte, a French overseas region, at 11,000 purchasing power standards per inhabitant — 29% of the EU average. Among mainland regions, Yuzhen tsentralen in Bulgaria at 15,700 is the lowest.
- Are regional gaps wider within countries or between them?
- Within. France contains both Île de France at 61,500 and Mayotte at 11,000, a ratio of 5.6 to one inside one Member State — wider than the gap between the richest and poorest EU countries. Romania, Hungary and Czechia follow, while Finland's internal ratio is only 1.5.
- Why do capital regions score so high?
- Partly because they concentrate high-value activity, and partly because of measurement. GDP is counted where output is produced while population is counted where people live, so commuters raise a capital's GDP per capita and lower that of the regions they commute from.
Methodological note
Eurostat publishes regional gross domestic product by NUTS 2 region in purchasing power standards per inhabitant, which adjusts for price level differences between countries.
Values are for 2023, the most recent year available at the extraction date, covering 244 EU NUTS 2 regions. The dataset also contains regions of candidate and EFTA countries; those are excluded here, and the EU average shown is the published EU27 figure.
The regional indices against the EU average, the counts above 150% and below 50%, and the within-country ratios between each Member State's highest and lowest region are computed by Silver Data Lab and labelled as derived. Within-country ratios are calculated only for Member States with at least three NUTS 2 regions.
The national spread quoted for comparison is derived the same way from the GDP per capita index used by the companion study in economy and finance, taken at the same 2023 reference year and drawing on that study's own declared extraction.
Source data
The underlying series can be inspected and re-downloaded from the Eurostat data browser. The filters below are the ones applied.
GDP at current market prices by NUTS 2 region
nama_10r_2gdp
- Filters applied:
- freq=A · unit=PPS_EU27_2020_HAB · time=2023
- Extracted:
- 2026-08-11
- Source last updated:
- 2026-02-10
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