REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

Table 4: Annual rates of growth of GDP per capita for the period 1989-2007
Region Population GDP GDP per capita
World 1.32 3.33 1.99
EU-15 * 0.43 1.86 1.38
USA 1.18 2.75 1.55
China 0.97 8.68 6.91
India 1.83 6.27 4.37
SEE -0.14 1.03 1.18
Source: A. Maddison: Contours the World Economy, Oxford University Press, 2007;
*with Norway and Switzerland
In the 1998-2007 periods there was a reversal of the rates of growth in Western Balkan
countries. They became positive, although some countries were lagging behind (Macedonia
and Montenegro). The analysis of the whole period between 1989 and 2007 shows that
the fastest growth was obtained in Albania (71%) and in Greece (69%), while Serbia,
Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced in 2007 the level of GDP which was
still below the level obtained in the year 1989. The divergences in performances are huge
and they have considerably influenced the emigration rate: the lower the rate of growth, the
higher the emigration (see table 5).
Table 5: The level of GDP per capita and annual rate of growth in SEEs
Region/
Country
A. Western
Balkan
REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND REGIONAL COOPERATION
GDP per capita in $
(PPP, 1990)
Index
1989=100
1989 1998 2007 2007 1998
Annual Rate of growth
(%)
1989/ 1998/ 1989/
1998 2007 2007
5248 3394 4229 80,6 64,6 -4.72 2.47
-1.18
Albania 2477 2807 4305 174 113,3 1.39 4.87 3.10
Bosnia
&Herzegovina
4050 2645 4133 102 65,3 -4.63 5.08 0.11
Croatia 8001 6530 8789 109,8 81,6 -2.23 3.36 0.53
Macedonia 4202 3065 3502 83,2 72,9 -3.45 1.50 -1.01
Montenegro 4443 2357 2860 63,2 53 -6.80 1.97 -2.50
Serbia 5756 2672 3622 62,9 46,4 -8.10 3.43 -2.54
Members of
6320 6008 8809 139,4 95,1 -0.55 4.31
EU(2007)
1.87
Bulgaria 6216 5644 7815 125,7 90,8 -1.07 3.69 1.27
Greece 10086 12511 15342 152,1 124 2.42 2.29 2.35
Hungary 6903 7434 9577 138,7 107,6 0.82 2.85 1.83
Romania 3941 3168 4670 118,5 80,4 -2.39 4.40 0.94
Slovenia 12340 12272 16866 136,6 99,4 -0.07 3.59 1.74
SEE 5994 5119 7401 123,5 85,4 -1.71 4.19 1.18
World 5140 5720 7311 142,2 111,3 .. .. ..
Source: A. Maddison: Contours the World Economy, Oxford University Press, 2007.
In EU member countries the rate of growth in the analysed period used to be 4.2 percent
yearly, which is the sign of return to the previous level of growth. Those rates are above the
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