Hungary's PPP lagging behind in the EU

Hungary’s GDP per capita (purchasing power parity) reached 68% of the European Union average in 2015, a Eurostat report showed on Wednesday. The Hungarian figure is better than Latvia’s and those member states that joined the EU after 2004.

Just like in 2014, Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands recorded the highest level of GDP per capital in the EU-28 in 2015. The biggest change at the very top is that Germany came in fifth behind Austria, beating Denmark and Sweden.

"Levels of actual individual consumption were somewhat more homogeneous, but still showed significant differences across Europe," the Eurostat reported is quoted by portfolio.hu. 

Bulgaria was the member state with the lowest per-capita GDP, at 54% below the EU average. It is preceded by Romania and Croatia. Hungary’s 68% is unchanged from the 2014 reading, and as Poland’s GDP per capita rose 1 percentage point, Hungary no longer ties with Poland as the fifth "worst" member state in this respect.

This means that of the ten countries that joined the EU in 2004 only Latvia is behind Hungary. Over the last 12 years Hungary was taken over by Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Estonia, as well.