The real gross domestic product (GDP) in the Western Balkans, the region that includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia, grew by 2.6 percent in 2023. In the following three years, the growth rate was expected to increase.

Montenegro achieved the highest gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the Western Balkans in 2023, at 6.4 percent compared to the previous year. Furthermore, Kosovo and Serbia were predicted the most significant increase in GDP for the following year, at 3.8 percent.

Serbia has recorded the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in the Western Balkan region over the past years, totaling ***** billion U.S. dollars in 2024. In the same year, Bosnia and Herzegovina had the second-highest GDP at **** billion U.S. dollars.

In 2024, Montenegro recorded the highest GDP per capita in the Western Balkans at approximately ****** U.S. dollars. Serbia followed in the ranking with gross domestic product per capita reaching ****** U.S. dollars.

This dataset provides values for GDP reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

This dataset provides values for GDP PER CAPITA PPP reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

All data are expressed as a percentage, except for GDP per capita, net wages, total population, life expectancy, expected years of education, average years of schooling, life and non-life premium, total premium, bank deposits, financial assets and deposits of insurance companies, which are expressed in absolute terms.

Source of data:

1. Data on Life and Non-life premium, Total (gross) premium, Premium reserve data, Financial assets and Deposits of insurance companies are collected from the official reports of insurance supervision agencies: Insurance Supervision Agency in Montenegro (http://www.ano.me/en/), Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (https://www.hanfa.hr/en/), National Bank of Serbia (https://www.nbs.rs/internet/english/, Insurance Supervision Agency of North Macedonia (http://aso.mk/en/?lang=en) and Financial Supervisory Authority in Albania (https://amf.gov.al/).
2. The economic indicators for the observed Western Balkan countries (GDP per capita, unemployment rate, inflation rate, net earnings and average effective deposit interest rate) are taken from the website Eurostat (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat) and Statista (https://www.statista.com/)
3. All demographic indicators, except for the expected and average years of schooling and education index, were collected from the Eurostat and UNDP database (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database; http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/ ).
4. Data on expected and average school years were taken from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (http://uis.unesco.org) , while the education index was obtained as a result of a calculation based on a formula published on the UNDP website (http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/education-index).
5. Data on bond yield were collected from the website of European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/), i.e. from EC reports - EU Candidate Countries’ & Potential Candidates’ Economic Quarterly (CCEQ), except two data for Serbia (2006 and 2007) which were estimated by Makima extrapolation.
6. Bank deposits data are taken from the official reports of banks' regulatory institutions: Central bank of Montenegro (https://www.cbcg.me/en), National bank of Serbia (https://www.nbs.rs/en/indeks/), Croatian National bank (https://www.hnb.hr/en/home), National bank of the Republic of North Macedonia (https://www.nbrm.mk/pocetna-en.nspx); Bank of Albania (https://www.bankofalbania.org/home/)

Description of columns:

f1-GDPper capita; f2- Unemployment (%); f3-Inflation rate (%); f4- Net Wages €; f5- Deposit rate (%); f6- Population; f7- Female (%); f8- Population <15 (%); f9- Population 15-64 (%); f10- Dep old (%); f11- Dep young (%); f12- Urban population (%); f13-Life exp. (years); f14- Preschool enroll rate (%); f15- Elem school enroll rate (%); f16-High school enroll rate (%); f17- University enroll rate (%); f18- Expected years of schooling; f19- Avg. years of schooling; f20- Education Index (%); f21- Fertility rate (number of children to a woman); f22- Birth rate (per 1000 inhabitants); f23- Health costs (% GDP); f24-premium reserve per GDP,

i1- life premium €; i2- non-life premium €; i3- total premium €; i4- bond yield (%); i5a- bank deposits ( national currency); i5b- bank deposits €; i6a-financial assets in insurance (national currency); i6b- financial assets in insurance €; i7a- deposits of insurers (national currency); i7b –deposit of insurers €

Serbia recorded the highest government revenue as a share of GDP in the Western Balkan region in 2024, at 43.8 percent. Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked second, with the government's revenue accounting for 41.46 percent of the GDP.

With a Gross Domestic Product of over 4.18 trillion Euros, the German economy was by far the largest in Europe in 2023. The similarly sized economies of the United Kingdom and France were the second and third largest economies in Europe during this year, followed by Italy and Spain. The smallest economy in this statistic is that of the small Balkan nation of Montenegro, which had a GDP of 5.7 billion Euros. In this year, the combined GDP of the 27 member states that compose the European Union amounted to approximately 17.1 trillion Euros. The big five Germany’s economy has consistently had the largest economy in Europe since 1980, even before the reunification of West and East Germany. The United Kingdom, by contrast, has had mixed fortunes during the same period and had a smaller economy than Italy in the late 1980s. The UK also suffered more than the other major economies during the recession of the late 2000s, meaning the French economy was the second largest on the continent for some time afterward. The Spanish economy was continually the fifth-largest in Europe in this 38-year period, and from 2004 onwards, has been worth more than one trillion Euros. The smallest GDP, the highest economic growth in Europe Despite having the smallerst GDP of Europe, Montenegro emerged as the fastest growing economy in the continent, achieving an impressive annual growth rate of 4.5 percent, surpassing Turkey's growth rate of 4 percent. Overall,this Balkan nation has shown a remarkable economic recovery since the 2010 financial crisis, with its GDP projected to grow by 28.71 percent between 2024 and 2029. Contributing to this positive trend are successful tourism seasons in recent years, along with increased private consumption and rising imports. Europe's economic stagnation Malta, Albania, Iceland, and Croatia were among the countries reporting some of the highest growth rates this year. However, Europe's overall performance reflected a general slowdown in growth compared to the trend seen in 2021, during the post-pandemic recovery. Estonia experienced the sharpest negative growth in 2023, with its economy shrinking by 2.3% compared to 2022, primarily due to the negative impact of sanctions placed on its large neighbor, Russia. Other nations, including Sweden, Germany, and Finland, also recorded slight negative growth.

Montenegro had the highest general governmental gross debt in the Western Balkans in 2024, at over ** percent. In comparison, Kosovo recorded the lowest value at **** percent.

In 2024, Serbia recorded the highest government spending as a share of GDP in the Western Balkan region, at over ** percent. Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked second, with the government's expenditure accounting for approximately ** percent of the GDP.

Imports of goods and services accounted for nearly 81 percent of North Macedonia's GDP in 2023, the highest value recorded in the Western Balkans. By comparison, this figure reached only 44 percent in Albania.

In 2024, Montenegro's external debt accounted for over 130 percent of the country's GDP, which was the highest figure recorded in the Western Balkan region. In the same year, Kosovo recorded the lowest external debt in relation to its GDP at 39.5 percent.

In 2024, net remittance inflows accounted for approximately **** percent of Kosovo's GDP, the highest value recorded in the Western Balkan region. By comparison, this figure reached only *** percent in North Macedonia.

In 2024, North Macedonia's net borrowing accounted for nearly five percent of the country's GDP. At the same time, this figure totaled negative 1.3 percent in Kosovo.

In 2024, net foreign direct investment inflows accounted for approximately *** percent of Kosovo's GDP, the highest figure recorded in the Western Balkans. In comparison, this value totaled only *** percent in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 1950, at the end of the recovery period that followed the Second World War, GDP per capita across the Eastern Bloc varied greatly by country. Czechoslovakia, the most industrialized country in the Bloc after East Germany, had a GDP per capita that was 69 percent of the rate across Western European** countries. In contrast, Romania's GDP per capita was less than a quarter of the Western European average in 1950. 1950-1989 Generally speaking, Eastern European economies grew faster and made gains on those of the west (not including Mediterranean region) in the 1950s and 1960s, however, a series of recessions and increasing debts meant that this gap widened in the 1970s and 1980s. By 1989, as communism in Europe came to an end, the difference between overall GDP per capita in the Eastern and Western Blocs returned to a similar rate as in 1950, although it varied by country. The Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, three of the larger economies of those given, had a lower share of western GDP per capita in 1989 than in 1950, while the smaller economies of the Balkans saw an increase. 1989-2000 Between 1989 and 2000, the European Union's GDP per capita grew faster than in the former Eastern Bloc countries. However, the end of communism did negatively impact EU economies in the early 1990s. Poland was the only Eastern Bloc country to make gains on the west in these years, although this was more to do with its poor economy in the 1980s. The former-Soviet states, in particular, saw GDP per capita drop below one-quarter of the European Union's rate over this decade, as post-Soviet economic recovery did not realistically begin until the late 1990s.

Montenegro had the highest labor productivity in 2023, at approximately ** constant 2017 international dollars. In comparison, Albania recorded the lowest value at **** constant 2017 international dollars of GDP per hour worked.