Moldovans – 150-fold poorer than the richest Europeans

The Republic of Moldova has the lowest average annual income per capita among the European states, 280 euro, 150-fold lower than the same index for Lichtenstein (42.000 euro), informs www.novinite.com. The annual average income per capita in Romania and Bulgaria amounts to 1.600 euro, 26 times lower than the maximum level. Of the EU member countries, Slovakia and Latvia are on the last place with less than 3.000 euro. Switzerland and Luxembourg are next in the top with an annual average income per capita of 25.000 euro. Next ranks Norway (20.000 euros), followed by Ireland (18.000 euro), Austria, Denmark, Great Britain and Germany (17.087 euro). According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova, the average year income in the first trimester of 2006 constituted 568.6 lei per person (about 35 euros). At the same time, the average personal consumption expenditures in this period constituted about 519.5 lei (32 euro) per person.