Prague the 12th Most Productive Region in the EU

According to data for 2006 released by Eurostat today, Bratislava region was the nineteenth most productive of all 271 regions in the European Union. Its GDP per inhabitant in purchasing power standards amounted to 149% of the EU average. This has to do with many large companies having headquarters and major facilities in the capital city, such as automotive manufacturer Volkswagen or oil refinery Slovnaft. Czech capital Prague ranked even higher – at place number twelve – and it is the most productive region of whole Central and Eastern Europe. Other regions of Slovakia ranked much lower, since their productivity ranged from only 44% of the EU average in case of Eastern Slovakia to 63% in Western Slovakia. Regional differences in living standards are thus quite pronounced in the country. However, this is the case of many other EU member states as well, such as Italy, Germany, Spain or the UK. The poorest regions of the EU can be found in Romania, Bulgaria and Poland.