Each Romanian lost a 1,000-euro holiday because of the crisis

The 2009 GDP witnessed the most abrupt decline of the last two decades in absolute value, in euros.

The Gross Domestic Product per capita fell by 1,100 euros last year to 5,390 euros because of the economic crisis, so that Romania is now back where it was two years ago in its progression towards convergence to Western Europe.

Romania therefore ranks 26th in the European Union, only ahead of Bulgaria, where the GDP per capita reached 4,454 euros, according to Eurostat data and ZF's calculations.

At the top of the ranking, three countries registered a GDP per capita of more than 35,000 euros, even after eighteen months of recession: Luxembourg - 76,049 euros, Denmark - 40,397 euros and Ireland, 36,901 euros, which shows how far behind the developed economies Romania's economy is.

The indicator reveals the economic power of a country, and is more relevant for comparisons than other indicators such as the absolute GDP or the economy's performance.

"We will get back what we lost in the crisis in two years," says the chairman of the National Forecast Commission Ion Ghizdeanu.

The average GDP per capita in the European Union fell by almost 1,500 euros to 23,637 euros. Romania only accounts for 23% of the European average in 2009. This is down from 26% in 2008. Still, Romania started from a very low value: in 2000, the GDP per capita stood at merely 9% of the European average, in 2004 it reached 13% and in 2006 went up to 19%.