Relative wealth
Q: How does Slovak income compare to Central Europe?
In general,
wealth in Slovakia
and all of Central Europe drops along the line from west to east (it drops in the reverse direction in Western Europe).?The countries to the east and south-east, in turn, have lower purchasing power than Central Europe. From a historical perspective, it is unlikely to change without a concerted effort ? the pattern has been in place for much of the past millennium.
The numbers show each statistical region's purchasing power relative to Slovakia's national average set at 100%. Source: Eurostat for 2007.
The yellow shading matches
Slovakia's purchasing power range
from the eastern region (68% of Slovakia's average) to the country's average (100%). Green = above the range
, yellow = within the range, red = below the range. The range leaves out the region of Bratislava taken in isolation, but its purchasing power is included in the national average.
By comparison, the U.S. national purchasing power average calculated in the same manner for the year 2007 would be represented by 230% in the map, i.e., below the regions of Bratislava, Vienna, Bavaria, and Prague, and above the rest of the area.
While there was no match at the collapse of communism in 1989, the hampered Central European countries began to match or surpass the purchasing power in unaffected Europe's outlying areas from around the mid-2000s. The capitals rose far above their countries earlier.