EU Regions

European Regional GDP in 2022

Regional GDP data released by Eurostat shows that the 231 out of 242 EU regions recorded GDP growth in 2022 compared to 2021.

Out of the top 15, Portugal’s Algarve region recorded the largest increase with 17%, followed by Madeira and Southern (Ireland). 3 out of the top 15 were Portuguese regions.

One interpretation of the figures could be that since this is 2022 compared to 2021 a part of the increase could be due to rise in tourism, as many of the regions at the top are regions where tourism constitutes a large part of the economic activity.

The regional data is at the NUTS2 level. The NUTS classification system divides an economic territory into three levels. With NUTS 2 the second out of three sub-national levels.

Eurostat said that out of the 11 regions where GDP decreased in 2022, the Yugoiztochen region in Bulgaria saw the largest drop (-3.1%), Severozapaden (also Bulgaria) at -1.7% and Corse (France) and Észak Magyarország (Hungary) at -1.2%.

The following map shows regional GDP in for 2022 in terms of GDP per capita in purchasing power standards (PPS), which adjusts the data for price level differences. The regional GDP per capita is then expressed as a percent of the EU average, which is set to 100.

In 2022, the data shows that GDP per capita was highest in Southern, Ireland at 286% of the EU average, followed by Luxembourg (257% of the EU average), Eastern and Midland, Ireland (247%), Praha Czechia (207%) and Région de Bruxelles Capitale Belgium (196%). Eurostat said that “The high GDP per capita in these regions (Luxembourg, Brussels and Praha) can be partly explained by a high inflow of commuting workers and by some major multinational enterprises domiciled in the regions (Southern, Eastern and Midland Ireland).”

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