Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania are still on the very bottom of the European economic scale, show the latest Eurostat data for 2024. year. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in BiH is only 35% of the European Union average, while Albania is slightly better with 37%.
However, when the actual individual consumption of citizens (AIC) is observed, the situation is reversed. BiH exceeds Albania with 41%, which records 38% of the EU average, which means that BiH citizens, despite the lower GDP, are consuming more.
Experts state that the reasons for this difference are numerous: the help of the diaspora, gray economy, remittances from abroad and a higher degree of population borrowing. In addition to BiH, both countries such as Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia remain significantly below the European average – both by GDP and by living standards.
Although the prices in BiH are lower than the European average, it is not enough to compensate for the overall economic weakness.
At the top of the ladder there is Luxembourg with as many as 241% of the European GDP average, followed by Ireland with 211%. The weakest EU member, Bulgaria, records 66%, which is still almost twice as much as BiH.
Ireland, although the second in the amount of GDP, has a significantly lower consumption per capita, which is explained by the structure of the economy-based economy and intellectual property, which do not directly affect the standard of citizens.
While richer EU members recorded stable growth, countries such as BiH remain trapped in a low-development cycle, depending on the help and expressed economic differences. For many citizens of the region, the European Standard remains a great goal, writes Liberation.
