With all the talk about the ups and (often dramatic) downs of economics in Croatia, it can be difficult to know what the real truth is. How does Croatia compare with the rest of Europe?
For many generations, maps have always been a source of fascination for most people, but what about a map of wealth and poverty?
Europe is an incredible place, and as a European, I'm always thankful to be from here. We have such dramatic differences, in language, in customs, in cuisine, in religion and so forth, and yet we are still so deeply connected. Our history and the sheer amount of water under the bridge between our many countries would have us dislike each other but instead, in spite of the brutal wars we have all been engaged in at some point or another, we tend to stick to nothing more than raised eyebrows and mildly derogatory jokes about each other in the present day.
Europe is diverse and beautiful, but just how diverse is the distribution of wealth on our continent and among our islands? An interesting report by HRT on the 7th of December, 2017, brought to us by the website jakubmarian.com gives us a much better insight into Europe's collective and respective economies, but with all the talk about better domestic economic performance in spite of the massive Agrokor crisis here at home - just how and where does Croatia fit in to the bigger picture?
According to the map, which was created by cartographer Jakub Marian on the basis of research carried out by the multinational finance giant Credit Suisse, the Republic of Croatia is wealthier than all of the former Yugoslav countries with the exception of our neighbours to the north, Slovenia, who are allegedly 2.3 times richer.
Wealth is calculated by the adding of value to financial and other assets and via the deduction of debts, the map therefore shows the average wealth per adult in a particular European nation expressed in USD.
Rather unsurprisingly, the wealthiest nation according to the map is the little-talked-about and seemingly distant nation of Iceland, where the average wealth amounts to an impressive $445,000 per adult! Iceland is followed by Switzerland and Luxembourg, Norway, France, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The poorest nations in Europe appear to be Ukraine and Belarus, where the average wealth is a mere $100 to $900 per adult.
