Luxembourg is EU's richest country

(CS) The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the European Union's wealthiest country, both in terms of its GDP and individual consumption, statistics office Eurostat has shown.

In its study published on Thursday, Eurostat measures GDP and Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) in purchasing power standards (PPS). The PPS is a fake currency used by Eurostat to determine the value of money in countries with different-sized economies, eliminating differences in price structure for goods and services.

Luxembourg comes out on top with a GDP more than two and a half times the European average, at 263 PPS compared to 100 for the EU.

Also in the top five are Austria (130), Ireland (129), the Netherlands (128) and Sweden (126). The Grand Duchy's Greater Region neighbours ranked lower, with Germany coming 7th (123), one spot ahead of Belgium (120), and France ranking 10th (109).

The poorest countries according to Eurostat are Croatia, with a GDP of 62, Romania (50) and Bulgaria (47).

Despite the good news, the data for 2012 shows that Luxembourg GDP declined by three points compared to 2011, with other countries such as Austria seeing a steady increase or more stable numbers.

The same goes for individual consumption, which dropped from 140 in 2010 to 138 in 2012 in Luxembourg. This still remains far above the European base-line of 100.

Next in line are Germany (123), Austria (120) and Sweden (117). In this category too, Croatia (60), Romania (50) and Bulgaria (49) rank lowest.

To access the full study visit the Eurostat website.