West London is nearly five times wealthier than anywhere else in UK – beating the Brussels elite to the top-spot in European wealth stats
The champagne will be flowing on King’s Road tonight, after new figures showed that West Londoners generate nearly five times more GDP than anywhere else in the UK – and is the richest area in Europe.
Data released today by the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, shows economic activity across 276 EU regions in 2014, as measured by GDP per capita.
The data suggests West Londoners will certainly be able to invest in some more iceberg basements: Eurostat put GDP per capita in the area at €172,600 (£135,689) – nearly three times the London average.
The Notting Hill set is also the most affluent in Europe: their GDP per capita is more than six times the continental average of €27,500.
That #FridayFeeling may be more subdued in Brussels tonight. The Belgian bureaucrats came third in the wealth statistics with a GDP per capita of €62,900, lagging behind Luxembourg’s figure of €87,600.
There are 21 EU areas with a GDP per capita 50 per cent or more above the average. Five of these are in Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany. The Netherlands and the UK boast three each.
Areas with less than half the European average are in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Hungary, France and Greece.
Underscoring major economic differences across Europe, West London’s GDP per capita is 45 times that of the lowest region in the ranking: Severozapaden in Bulgaria, which has a GDP per capita of just €3,800.
Other regions struggling in the Eurostat figures include Yuzhen tsentralen in Bulgaria and the North East of Romania, with a GDP per capita of €4,000 and €4,700 respectively.