Bulgaria's Yuzhen Tsentralen region had the largest growth in real GDP in the EU, with a 11.6% increase in 2024. Real GDP increased in 169 EU regions compared with 2023, while decreases were registered in 64 regions, Eurostat said on February 9.
Yuzhen Tsentralen is one of six NUTS II (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, level 2) regions in Bulgaria. For Bulgaria as a whole, real GDP growth reached 3.4% in 2024, up from 1.7% in 2023.
Among Bulgaria's other regions, Severen Tsentralen registered an 8.4% increase in GDP growth in 2024, Yugozapaden recorded GDP growth of 5.1%, while Severoiztochen grew by 4.2%. Severozapaden saw a 2% decrease in real GDP, while Yugoiztochen saw a 12.7% decrease.
The volume of economic output in Bulgaria's Yuzhen Tsentralen region grew by 11.6% in 2024 in real terms, adjusted for inflation, compared with 2023, according to Eurostat. In 2023, the region's real GDP declined by 2.2%, following growth of 10.4% in 2022. The Yuzhen Tsentralen region comprises the Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Smolyan, Kardzhali and Haskovo administrative regions.
The 11.6% increase was the largest economic growth rate ever recorded for Bulgaria's Yuzhen Tsentralen region since comparable data became available in 2001, according to a review of the Eurostat database. In addition, 2024 marked the first time a Bulgarian region ranked first in Europe in terms of economic growth.
In 2024, the second largest increase was registered in Eastern and Midland in Ireland (+8.5%), Severen Tsentralen, also in Bulgaria (+8.4%), Malta (a single region at this level of detail; +7.0%) and Mayotte, an overseas region in France (+6.2%).
The highest fall in real GDP was registered in the Bulgarian region of Yugoiztochen (-12.7%), followed by the Southern region in Ireland (-5.5%) and La Reunion, an overseas region in France (-3.7%).
GDP per capita
In 2024, regional GDP per capita, expressed in terms of purchasing power standards (PPS), ranged from 30.1% of the EU average in the French region of Mayotte to 268.3% in the Eastern and Midland region in Ireland.
As in 2023, after Ireland's Eastern and Midland, the leading regions were Luxembourg (244.6% of the EU average), a single region at this level of detail, and Southern Ireland (216.6%).
In contrast, in addition to Mayotte (30.1% of the EU average), the regions with the lowest ranking of regional GDP per capita in 2024 included Guyane, another French region (40.8%), Severozapaden in Bulgaria (41.7%), Voreio Aigaio in Greece (42.1%) and Severen Tsentralen also in Bulgaria (43.3%).