Per capita, the Netherlands is one of the richest countries in the European Union. That is, if you take the value of the production of all goods and services in a year as a starting point.
New figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and Eurostat show that the so-called gross domestic product (GDP) of the Netherlands in 2023 will amount to almost 58,000 euros per inhabitant. This puts the Netherlands in fourth place, just like in 2022.
The average gross domestic product, a measure of economic prosperity, was around 38,000 euros per inhabitant in the EU last year.
At the very top of the list is Luxembourg, where many financial institutions are located and people mainly work but do not live. Ireland is in second place. That may seem surprising, but the large number of foreign multinationals based there because of the favorable tax climate is a good explanation. If you take this into account, the Netherlands actually scores slightly better.
The top three is completed by Denmark, a country that is comparable to the Netherlands.
Bulgaria has the lowest GDP per capita on average, at around 15,000 euros.
You can also adjust the above list slightly by taking into account differences in purchasing power between countries. After all, one euro can buy less in the Netherlands than in Bulgaria.
If you correct prosperity for differences in purchasing power, the Netherlands comes in third place in Europe, after Luxembourg and Ireland. We then move up one place above Denmark, because life in Denmark is slightly more expensive and you can therefore buy a little more for one euro in the Netherlands than in Denmark.
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Individual consumption per capita: The Netherlands scores high, but just below Belgium
A country’s gross domestic product represents the size of its economy based on the value of production in one year. You can also measure this as total income in a year. That is what employees receive in wages, entrepreneurs in profit and capital owners in interest, dividends, rents and so on.
The average national income in itself therefore says little about the individual prosperity of people in a country and the distribution of prosperity.
However, the study also looks at actual individual consumption per inhabitant. This factor is also considered a good benchmark to measure material prosperity in a country.
This concerns consumer expenditure by households, consumption by non-profit institutions serving households and individual consumption by the government, all adjusted for price levels.
Figures from Statistics Netherlands and Eurostat show that actual individual consumption per inhabitant in the Netherlands is around 30,000 euros, more than sixty percent of the national income per inhabitant. On average, this percentage is 65 percent in the EU.
The Netherlands, as with gross domestic product per inhabitant, is in fourth place, with Luxembourg again at the top of the rankings.
Luxembourg has a low actual individual consumption compared to gross domestic product per capita, which is not surprising given the large number of foreign companies in the country. Austria is in second place and Belgium is in third place, which scores almost equally with the Netherlands.
