Dutch GDP per capita still relatively high within the EU

The size of the Dutch economy per capita is more than one and a half times higher than the EU average (almost 30 thousand euros). The size of Luxembourg's economy, on a per capita basis, is almost three and a half times larger than the EU average. Luxembourg has had the highest GDP per capita since 1995. This high ranking is mainly due to the fact that the country has relatively many financial institutions (with high value added) and a relatively large number of people who work but do not live there.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure of the size of a country’s economy. The volume change of GDP over a particular reporting period is a measure of economic growth or contraction. GDP is one of the many indicators used to determine the prosperity level of a country.

Gap in per capita GDP across the EU is narrowing

The differences in GDP per capita between the EU countries have narrowed over the years. Especially in the EU’s Baltic countries, GDP has moved closer to the average. In 1995, per capita GDP in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was still around one-tenth of the EU average. Thanks to strong economic growth, this share rose to 52 percent (Latvia) and 69 percent (Estonia) of the average last year. In the EU-27 as a whole, per capita GDP doubled between 1995 and 2020.

Ireland has caught up significantly in recent decades. In 1995, it still ranked eleventh and subsequently alternated between the second and third place. Between 2010 and 2020, per capita GDP even doubled. In Ireland, the high GDP per capita is partly related to tax rules for international companies.

Disposable household income

High GDP often goes hand in hand with high disposable income. Nevertheless, the ranking for per capita disposable income is not exactly the same as that for per capita GDP. Of the EU countries, for which the 2019 figures are available, the Netherlands occupies the fifth place. Luxembourg (based on the figure for 2018), Germany and Austria are the three countries with the highest disposable income per household. Belgium is ranked just above the Netherlands. Ireland holds the tenth place with respect to this indicator.

The Netherlands contributes 6 percent to European GDP

In 2020, the Netherlands contributed 6 percent to the European Union's gross domestic product, making it the fifth largest economy in the EU-27. Dutch GDP amounted to 800 billion euros last year. After years of growth, there was a decline in 2020. Due to the coronavirus crisis, the Dutch economy shrank by 3.8 percent year-on-year. The main economies in the current EU are Germany (25.1 percent), France (17.3 percent) and Italy (12.4 percent). With a share of 8.4 percent, Spain takes the fourth place. Together, the five largest EU economies have a share of almost 70 percent.