TALLINN - Eurostat, the EU's central statistics agency, issued a slew of provocative economic data this week, ranging from comparative GDPs per region to levels of obesity.
Dividing the European Union into 268 roughly equal zones in terms of population, Eurostat found that, based on 2004 data, gross domestic product per inhabitant ranged from 24 percent of the bloc's average in Romania to 300 percent in London.
The three Baltic states are each considered a separate region, and all fall into the poorest category of regions 's those having under 75 percent of the EU's average GDP per capita (based on purchasing power parity).
Estonia was highest among the Baltic trio, at 55.7 percent of the EU average. This is up 4.1 percentage points compared with 2003, according to the Baltic News Service.
Lithuania's GDP per capita was 51.1 percent of the EU average, while for Latvia the analogous figure was 45.5 percent, placing it among the poorest 25 regions in the 27-member bloc. Although the data is from 2004, Romania and Bulgaria, which both joined the union this year, are included in the list.
The fifteen poorest regions in the EU were all in Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. The poorest region was Nord-Est, in Romania, where the GDP per capita was 24 percent of the EU average.
The wealthiest 15 regions were scattered about in Western Europe, with the wealthiest being Inner London, where GDP per capita comprises 303 percent of the average in the bloc.
Luxembourg was second at 251 percent, and Brussels third at 248 percent. Curiously, Prague, which classifies as a separate region, made the "A-list" and came in 12th place at 157 percent the EU average.
In another report issued Feb. 20 's A Goldmine of Statistical Information 's Eurostat found that, based on body mass index, half of Greek and Austrian men are overweight and nearly half of German men are as well. Latvia has the lowest percentage of overweight men in the EU (32.5 percent), while Estonia is the second least overweight, as only 33.4 percent of its men are overweight.
In terms of obesity, Maltese men were in first place (25.1 percent), followed by Brits (22.3 percent), while among women the U.K. and Germany occupied the first two places (23 and 21.7 percent, respectively).
English dominates in foreign language study, Eurostat found, as 85 percent of all pupils in lower and upper secondary schools studied English in 2004 (Bulgaria and Romania included).
English was the most commonly studied foreign language in all EU member states save for Luxembourg, where French and German were more common, Eurostat reported.
One hundred percent of Swedish pupils study English, the agency said.
In the second half of 2005 Latvia had the cheapest gasoline in the EU (0.83 euro per liter of super-95), while the Netherlands had the most expensive (1.40 per liter). Estonia and Lithuania were next on the "cheapest gasoline" scale.
