State still among EU's wealthiest

Despite fears that the economic boom is over and concerns about a "rip-off Republic", the State remains one of the best-off parts of the European Union, with gross domestic product (GDP) per person the second highest in the EU, according to Eurostat.

The statistics office for the EU said yesterday that GDP per person in terms of purchasing power standards (PPS) in the Republic was 50 per cent higher than the EU average last year.

Only Luxembourg was judged to be a wealthier nation in PPS terms, with purchasing power more than 2½ times the average in the 27 EU countries.

But Luxembourg's rating was boosted by the large number of foreign workers in its economy who contribute to economic growth but are not counted as residents.

The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium were between 20-30 per cent above the EU average, while the UK, Germany, France and Finland recorded GDP per person of 10-20 per cent above average.

The poorest countries in the EU were judged to be Romania and Bulgaria, where GDP per person was around 60 per cent below the EU average, while Lithuania, Latvia and Poland also fared badly.

The PPS is an artificial currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries, so that one PPS buys the same volume of goods and services in all countries.

Eurostat says the unit allows for "meaningful" volume comparisons of economic indicators across countries.