I have been traveling in the Far East and commenting extensively
on some of the political and financial aspects in my “Week in
Review” commentary. For this column, though, I thought I’d
review the history that was made last Saturday. [I have to
apologize that this was gleaned from various newspapers as it is
not possible while traveling to access my own research library
back home.]
May Day was special this year with the admittance of 10 nations
into the European Union. For starters, the population of the now
25-country bloc rises from 378 million to 455 million. [Germany
is the most populous at 82.5 mm, Malta the smallest with around
400,000. And there are now 20 official languages. But I thought
we’d examine the GDP per capita and the 2003 GDP rate of both
the current and incoming members, along with three “candidate
countries” that will be examined in future years and some
selected non-members.
Current Members
Austria…$31,545… +0.7% [GDP in ‘03]
Belgium…29,295… +1.1
Britain…30,398… +2.2
Denmark…39,602… +0.4
Finland…31,261… +1.9
France…28,625… +0.2
Germany…29,318… -0.1
Greece…15,795… +4.7
Ireland…38,205… +1.2
Italy…25,443… +0.3
Luxembourg…58,716… +1.8
Netherlands…31,750… -0.8
Portugal…14,250… -1.3
Spain…20,693… +2.4
Sweden…33,920… +1.6
New Members
Cyprus…$18,011… +2.0%
Czech Republic…8,420… +2.9
Estonia…6,227… +4.7
Hungary…8,216… +2.9
Latvia…4,477… +7.4
Lithuania…5,295… +8.9
Malta…12,693… +0.4
Poland…5,511… +3.7
Slovakia…6,091… +4.2
Slovenia…13,943… +2.3
Candidate Countries
Bulgaria…$6,500… +4.8%
Romania…7,600… +4.9
Turkey…7,300… +7.8
Non-Members
Albania…$4,400… +7.3%
Belarus…8,700… +4.7
Moldova…2,600… +6.5
Russia…9,700… +4.3
Switzerland…32,000… +0.1
Ukraine…4,500… +4.8
Of course you can see that the new members to the E.U. bring
stronger growth rates but economies that overall are far smaller,
thus creating pressures on the European Union budget. Everyone
wants to be the next Ireland, that country having taken advantage
of E.U. subsidies and enlightened tax policies to emerge from the
backwaters into one of the better stories of the global economy of
the past 20 years.
And with good reason, Russia is wary as the E.U. closes in
further on its borders with the addition of the Baltic States,
though a full 51% of Russia’s exports will now go to the
expanded club. The E.U., though, needs to worry about nations
like Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, which are now neighbors to
E.U. states, making it easier to export their own indigenous
problems of crime, poverty and smuggling of all sorts (including
human trafficking). The average daily wage in Moldova, for
example, is $3.
Finally, in viewing a few miscellaneous indicators for the ten
new E.U. members, Slovenia has the most personal computers
per 100 people with 30, while Poland, Lithuania and Hungary
have the fewest, each with 11. And when it comes to smoking; a
full 50% of men in Lithuania and Latvia light up, versus a low of
21% in Slovakia. Ergo, healthcare costs in the first two must be
rather high, let alone because of the amount of alcohol that is
consumed in these parts. [Not that yours truly doesn’t enjoy a
beer now and then myself.]
Sources: Eurostat, CIA Sourcebook, International Herald
Tribune, The Straits Times
Wall Street History will return May 14.
Brian Trumbore
