OREANDA-NEWS. February 24, 2010. The Estonian gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is higher than in Latvia or Lithuania but the three Baltic countries are among the poorest in the European Union.

According to Eurostat the GDP per inhabitant in Latvia was 55.7 percent of the EU average in 2007. The corresponding figure for Lithuania was 59.3 and for Estonia 68.8 percent.

The survey looks at countries' per capita GDP on the basis of purchasing power parity for 2007, showing the Estonian figure as 17,100 euros per resident.

In 2006, Estonia's standard of living made up 65.3 percent of EU average.

On the basis of these figures the Baltic countries are among the 66 poorest regions in the European Union where GDP per inhabitant is below 75 percent of the EU average.

The richest region in the European Union is central London and the poorest Severozapaden in Bulgaria, with the living standards between these areas differing by more than sevenfold.

The twenty poorest regions in the European Union lie in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Hungary. The richest regions are in Western Europe -- in Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark.

In central London the gross domestic product per inhabitant is 334 percent higher than the EU average, totaling 49,100 euros per inhabitant a year.

In the poorest area in Bulgaria the GDP is 26 percent of the EU average, an average of 6,400 eruos a year. Other rich areas are Luxembourg, Brussels and Hamburg. In Eastern Europe only Prague was listed among the 20 richest areas.