Annex to the7th annual report on the implementation of the structural funds (2005). Commission staff working document.

Abstract

In May 2005, Commissioner Hübner presented the Third Progress Report1 which provided an update on the situation of the regions in the enlarged EU in terms of incomes, employment and productivity. Sixty-four regions, representing more than one quarter of the EU population, have a per capita GDP that is less than 75 % of the Community average. The enlarged Union displays considerable differences in wealth: in 2003; levels of per capita GDP ranged from 41 % of the EU average in Latvia to 215 % in Luxembourg. Ireland is the second most prosperous country with a GDP that is at 132 % of the EU average. In all the new Member States, per capita GDP is less than 90 % of the EU-25 average, and in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania it is less than half the EU-25 average.