Data extracted in May 2025.
Planned article update: July 2026.
Highlights
Türkiye’s economy is by far the largest among the enlargement countries. Its GDP at current market prices was €1.2 trillion in 2024, corresponding to 6.8% of that of the EU. Ukraine had the second largest economy, with a GDP of € 168 billion (2023 data).
In 2024, Serbia had the highest activity rate among the enlargement countries; 78.0% of the working-age population (aged 20-64) participated in the labour force. This continued a decade-long increase, narrowing the gap to the EU (80.4%) to 2.4 percentage points.
In 2024, Montenegro had the highest employment (73.5%) and gross value added (78.8%) in the services sector among the enlargement countries, surpassing EU levels and underscoring the sector’s economic importance.
Among the enlargement countries, Kosovo posted the highest gross fixed capital formation relative to GDP in 2024, reaching 31.5% of GDP. This was 10.3 percentage points higher than in the EU (21.2%).
This article is part of an online publication and provides information on a range of economic statistics for the enlargement countries, compared with the corresponding data for the European Union (EU).
For the articles forming this online publication, only data are used which have been submitted to and validated by Eurostat’s subject matter units following the same process as for the EU countries. For the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, data on economic developments are not yet transmitted according to this process, thus they are not yet available. However, data on these countries are also presented in the Statistics Explained articles for ENP-East countries, which are based on data supplied by and under the responsibility of the national statistical authorities of each country, on a voluntary basis. These data are not validated by Eurostat’s subject matter units.
Since 2014, data for Ukraine generally exclude the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol and the territories which are not under control of the Ukrainian government. Data on Ukraine from 2022 onwards are limited due to exemption under the martial law from mandatory data submission to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, effective as of 3 March 2022, following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This exemption remained in place until the end of the martial law, on 1 July 2025.
The article provides macroeconomic information from national accounts, including the principal measure of economic activity, gross domestic product (GDP); the labour force; an analysis of gross value added (GVA) and employment by economic sector; as well as information on gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) relative to GDP.
Gross domestic product at current market prices
Gross domestic product (GDP) is an aggregate measure of the size of an economy, based on its total final output. GDP can be calculated using different approaches: the output approach; the expenditure approach; and the income approach.
Table 1 shows nominal GDP (at current market prices) in the enlargement countries and the EU, for the period 2014-2024 (or the most recent year for which data are available).
Türkiye has by far the largest GDP among the enlargement countries. In 2024, measured at current market prices, the figure was €1 220.3 billion, equivalent to 6.8% of that in the EU. The next largest economies among this group were Ukraine, with GDP at current market prices of €167.6 billion (2023; 2024 data not available); Serbia with €82.3 billion (provisional); Bosnia and Herzegovina with €26.2 billion; Albania with €25.1 billion (provisional, estimate); North Macedonia with €15.4 billion (estimate); Kosovo[1] with €10.3 billion (provisional); and Montenegro with €7.5 billion (provisional).
In comparison, GDP in the EU stood at €17.9 trillion in 2024.
.png)
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_gdp)
Gross domestic product per capita at current market prices
GDP per capita is often used as a measure of living standards within an economy. Analysis of GDP per capita (per inhabitant) removes the influence of the size of the population, making comparisons between different countries of different sizes easier.
Figure 1 shows GDP per capita at current market prices (i.e. in nominal terms) in the enlargement countries and in the EU from 2014 to 2024. Data for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Ukraine are not available.
From 2014 to 2024, the EU enlargement countries displayed dynamic but volatile growth in GDP per capita, contrasting with the EU’s steadier trajectory. Common for all, except for Serbia, was a decline in GDP per capita in 2020 in connection with the economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, GDP per capita rebounded strongly in the subsequent years, reaching levels higher than before the pandemic.
Looking at the period 2014-2024 as a whole, GDP per capita in the 27 EU countries grew by close to one half (+47.9%). In contrast, Serbia’s GDP per capita grew almost one and a half times (+141.0%). Montenegro almost doubled theirs from 2014 to 2023 (+97.8%), and Albania’s grew almost as strongly (+87.3%) between 2014 and 2022. North Macedonia also recorded an increase by more than three quarters (+78.5%; 2014-2023). The only enlargement country with lower growth than the EU was Türkiye, with GDP per capita growing by just under one third (+31.9%) between 2014 and 2023.
By 2024, Serbia’s nominal GDP per capita reached €12 510, equivalent to 31.5% of the EU average (€39 680), increasing from €5 190 in 2014. This growth was particularly pronounced after 2020, with remarkable annual increases: 15.0% in 2021, followed by 16.5% in 2022 and 19.1% in 2023, highlighting a marked acceleration in economic performance. Serbia also demonstrated resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, maintaining positive growth in GDP per capita also in 2020, when many other economies experienced contractions.
Among the enlargement countries for which data are available, Türkiye recorded the highest GDP per capita in nominal terms throughout the period 2014-2023 (2024 not available). Between 2014 and 2023, it rose from €9 160 to €12 080. However, the trend was highly volatile, especially between 2015 and 2020. Türkiye rebounded strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic, with a remarkable surge of +23.8% in 2022 (compared to 2021) slowing slightly to +19.0% in 2023. This recovery mirrors a broader regional trend, although Türkiye’s rebound was among the strongest in the region. As of 2023, Türkiye’s GDP per capita reached 31.7% of the EU average.
Apart from Serbia and Türkiye, the other enlargement countries remained at a significantly lower level of GDP per capita compared to the EU.
At €11 000 in 2023, Montenegro’s GDP per capita hovered just below one third of the EU level. North Macedonia and Albania remained at even lower levels: at €7 980 (2023, more recent data not available) and €6 500 (2022, more recent data not available), respectively, their GDP per capita equating to roughly one fifth (20.9% and 18.1% of the EU’s value).
The EU’s GDP per capita increased from €26 830 in 2014 to €39 680 in 2024, interrupted only by the −3.8% contraction in 2020. This reflects steady growth, albeit slower than in the enlargement countries, with smaller year-on-year swings.
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_pc)
Growth in real gross domestic product
Real GDP (constant price GDP) focuses on the volume of output, excluding the effect of price changes. The calculation of the annual growth rate of GDP at constant prices, i.e. the real change in GDP, allows comparison of the dynamics of economic development, both over time and between economies of different sizes, regardless of price developments. Figure 2 shows the real annual growth rates of GDP year-on-year, in other words the changes in constant price GDP compared with the year before, in the enlargement countries and in the EU for the years from 2020 to 2024.
The enlargement countries experienced a sharper contraction in 2020 than the EU average but demonstrated a faster and more sustained recovery through 2024. While the EU saw modest growth of just 1.0% in 2024, most enlargement countries in the region recorded higher growth rates, underscoring continued post-pandemic economic momentum.
The 2020 data highlight the severity of the economic contraction across the enlargement countries, reflecting the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Montenegro experienced the deepest decline (−15.3%), largely due to its dependence on tourism, while most others saw contractions ranging from −5.3% in Kosovo to −3.0% in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia demonstrated notable resilience with a relatively mild decline of −1.0%. Türkiye stood out as the only country in the group to record growth (+1.9%) during that challenging year.
Most enlargement countries experienced a strong recovery in 2021, often surpassing the EU average rebound (+6.3%). The strongest recovery was recorded in Montenegro (+13.0% in 2021), Kosovo (+10.7%), and Albania (+9.0%), reflecting both the depth of their 2020 contractions and a rapid normalization of economic activity. Serbia’s recovery was also robust, posting +7.9% growth in 2021 after a comparatively mild contraction of −1.0% in 2020. Real GDP grew by 11.4% also in Türkiye, despite growing even during the pandemic.
After the strong rebound in 2021, most enlargement countries shifted into a phase of more moderate and stable growth, with 2024 estimates reflecting ongoing expansion: a majority maintained moderate to strong growth from 2022 to 2024, with Kosovo (4.3% in 2022, 4.1% in 2023, and 4.4% in 2024), Albania (4.8%, 3.9%, 4.0%), and Serbia (2.6%, 3.8%, 3.9%) showing particularly consistent performance. Montenegro’s growth decelerated from 6.4% in 2022 and 6.3% in 2023 to 3.0% in 2024 (- 3.3 percentage points (pp) under 2023 growth rate), though remained above the EU average. This contrast underscores the relatively strong momentum in several enlargement countries.
Over the 2020-2024 period, the EU’s economic recovery remained relatively subdued, with growth losing momentum after 2021. Performance moderated to +3.5% in 2022 and slowed further to just +0.4% in 2023, reflecting a flatter yet steady recovery path compared with most enlargement countries. However, real growth in GDP picked up somewhat in 2024, to 1.0%.
_.png)
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_gdp)
Labour force
The economically active population, also known as the labour force, is comprised of employed and unemployed persons. The labour force also includes people who are not actively working but have a job or business from which they are temporarily absent, for example due to illness, annual leave, industrial disputes, education or training leave. The activity rate is the share of the working-age population that is economically active.
Figure 3 presents the share of the population aged 20-64 who are economically active in the enlargement countries and in the EU, for the period 2014-2024.
In 2024, among the available enlargement countries, Serbia had the activity rate closest to the EU average (80.4%), with a rate of 78.0%. Between 2014 and 2024 the activity rate in Serbia increased by 10.1 pp, compared with 4.1 pp in the EU.
In North Macedonia, there were only minor fluctuations in the activity rate over the period 2014-2020 (more recent data not available), and there was little change in the rate between 2014 (70.8%) and 2020 (70.5%).
In Montenegro, the economic activity rate showed a moderate upward trend, increasing by 4.2 pp between 2014 and 2019 (from 67.6% to 71.8%), before falling to 67.2% in 2020. In 2020 (more recent data not available), amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the activity rate decreased in all the enlargement countries for which data are available, as in the EU.
Data are only available for the years 2021-2024 for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Overall, the activity rate trended upward (+3.0 pp between 2021 and 2024), reaching 66.4% in 2024.
Throughout the period 2014-2024, Türkiye consistently recorded the lowest economic activity rates among the enlargement countries, far below the level measured in the EU. However, with the exception of 2019 and 2020, the activity rate increased (or at least remained stable) throughout the period. In 2024, the economic activity rate stood at 64.0%, 5.1 pp higher than in 2014.
Between 2014 and 2024, the EU’s activity rate showed a steady and continuous increase from 76.3% to 80.4%, reflecting a strengthening labour market engagement among the working-age population. The only minor decline (-0.6 pp) was observed in 2020. Throughout this period, the EU consistently maintained a higher activity rate than the enlargement countries.
_.png)
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_argan)
Employment and gross value added by economic activity
Analysis of the gross value added (GVA) by economic activity is useful to illustrate the structure of an economy. The analysis is limited by the fact that the ‘services’ category itself contains a wide variety of activities, such as government, transport, tourism and business services. The proportion of construction in an economy typically varies over the economic cycle, with the sector doing well in periods of high growth and often contracting during a recession.
GVA is compared with employment by activity sector, using data for the population aged 15 and over, in contrast to the previous chapter, which focused on the 20-64 years group.
The data are shown in Figure 4 for 2024. Employment data for Montenegro and North Macedonia refer to 2020, and are not available for Albania, Kosovo and Ukraine. The GVA data are provisional for Montenegro, Albania and Serbia and estimated for North Macedonia, while GVA data for Ukraine refer to 2023. For Georgia and Moldova, neither data on employment nor GVA are available.
In all enlargement countries for which data are available for both employment and GVA in 2024, the employment share in the ‘Agriculture, forestry and fisheries’ sector remained higher than in the EU, where this sector accounted for 3.3% of employment and 1.8% of GVA. Within the group, employment shares ranged from 7.5% in Montenegro to 14.6% in Türkiye. As in previous years, the GVA share was generally lower than the employment share, varying from 3.7% in Serbia to 6.8% in North Macedonia. Montenegro showed shares relatively close to each other, with 7.5% of employment and 6.5% of GVA in this sector. In terms of GVA, Albania’s share remained exceptionally high at 17.9%, nearly 10 times the EU average, while Kosovo’s was 8.8%.
In the ‘Industry’ sector, Kosovo recorded the highest GVA share at 23.4% (provisional), while the lowest was observed in Montenegro (10.9%). Employment in industry ranged from 10.1% in Montenegro to 23.9% in North Macedonia, reflecting a relatively strong industrial employment base in most enlargement countries. In comparison, the EU average for 2024 stood at 17.3% of employment and 19.1% of GVA, indicating a slightly more balanced structure than in many enlargement countries.
In the ‘Construction’ sector, employment shares among enlargement countries ranged from 6.0% in Serbia to 9.6% in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The gross value added (GVA) share was generally lower, ranging from 3.9% in Montenegro to 6.7% in Türkiye. Türkiye stood out for its balanced structure, with employment and GVA nearly equal (6.6% and 6.7% respectively). Similarly, North Macedonia showed a close alignment between employment (6.9%) and GVA (6.6%). Albania (14.4%) and Kosovo (9.8%) recorded significantly higher GVA shares, although no recent employment data are available for comparison. In contrast, the EU average in 2024 was 6.8% for employment and 5.6% for GVA, placing it in the mid-range relative to the enlargement countries but slightly below Türkiye and North Macedonia in balance.
Finally, the ‘Services’ sector remained the dominant contributor to both employment and GVA across all countries. In the EU, services accounted for 72.1% of employment and 73.6% of GVA. Montenegro exceeded even the EU levels, with 73.5% of employment and 78.8% of GVA, underscoring the sector’s importance to its economy, particularly of the tourism. The other enlargement countries had lower shares, ranging from 57.1% of employment in North Macedonia to 69.0% GVA in Serbia, where, like in Montenegro, the sector represented the largest portion of economic activity.
.png)
Gross fixed capital formation
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) indicates how much of the value added in an economy is invested rather than consumed. It is considered an indicator of future business activity. In general, GFCF tends to increase in times of economic growth and business confidence. Conversely, it tends to decrease in case of economic uncertainty or recession.
GFCF as a percentage of GDP at current market prices in the period 2014 to 2024 is presented in Figure 5 for the enlargement countries, compared with the EU.
Some fluctuations were observed within the period in all countries. In most cases, the share of GFCF in GDP increased over the period 2014-2024.
Among the enlargement countries, Türkiye and Kosovo registered the highest GFCF levels, peaking at 31.9% in Türkiye (2023) and 32.9% in Kosovo (2021). In 2024, both maintained elevated levels of 31.0% and 31.5%, respectively, well above the EU average. Montenegro also recorded high investment shares, notably between 2016 (24.7%) and 2020 (27.9%) with a peak in 2018 (29.2%), though it declined to 20.2% in 2024.
Serbia showed a steady and significant increase from 15.9% in 2014 to 23.9% in 2022 with a dip only in 2020, reflecting rising investment activity. However, it fell from the 2022 peak in the subsequent years, to 23.6% in 2024. Bosnia and Herzegovina followed a similar upward path, climbing from 22.9% in 2014 to 24.7% in 2024, despite a small dip around 2020-2021. North Macedonia remained relatively stable over the decade, fluctuating moderately and ending with 23.8% in 2024.
In contrast, Albania saw a gradual decline from 26.5% in 2014 to 23.4% in 2024, while Ukraine, which started at 14.1% in 2014, reached 19.9% in 2023, the last available year, following volatile shifts including a sharp rebound that year.
Between 2014 and 2024, the EU recorded a relatively stable trend in GFCF, rising gradually from 19.6% of GDP in 2014 to a peak of 22.1% in 2022, before slightly declining to 21.2% in 2024. The overall pace of growth was modest, with minor annual fluctuations, reflecting a relatively stable investment environment.
.png)
Source: Eurostat (nama_10_gdp)
Source data for tables and graphs Data sources
All economic statistics in this article presented as monetary values are based on current price series, i.e. nominal values without adjustments for price changes, unless otherwise stated.
Data for the EU and the enlargement countries are compiled under European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 2010), the EU accounting framework for a systematic and detailed description of an economy. The structure of ESA 2010 is consistent with the international guidelines on national accounting as outlined in the United Nations‘ system of national accounts (the 2008 SNA). Eurostat issues manuals, handbooks, and other methodological guidance to support a harmonised implementation of ESA 2010.
The legal basis for ESA 2010 is Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union, which defines a methodology (on common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules that shall be used for compiling accounts and tables on comparable bases and a programme of data transmission setting out the time limits for the EU countries to transmit to Eurostat the accounts and tables. It was amended by Regulation (EU) 2023/734].
So far, Eurostat published data on GDP and main components for 8 of the enlargement countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine.
The main source for European labour force statistics is the European Union labour force survey (EU LFS). This household survey is carried out in all EU countries in accordance with European legislation and provides figures at least every quarter.
Among the enlargement countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye have implemented the EU-LFS instrument and conduct the labour force survey according to the same guidelines, methodology and standards as the EU countries.
While basic principles and institutional frameworks for producing statistics are already in place, the enlargement countries are expected to progressively increase the volume and quality of their data and to transmit these data to Eurostat in the context of the EU enlargement process. EU standards in the field of statistics require the existence of a statistical infrastructure based on principles such as professional independence, impartiality, relevance, confidentiality of individual data and easy access to official statistics; they cover methodology, classifications and standards for production.
Eurostat has the responsibility to ensure that statistical production of the enlargement countries complies with the EU acquis in the field of statistics. To do so, Eurostat supports the national statistical offices and other producers of official statistics through a range of initiatives, such as pilot surveys, training courses, traineeships, study visits, workshops and seminars, and participation in meetings within the European Statistical System. The ultimate goal is the provision of harmonised, high-quality data that conforms to European and international standards.
Context
National accounts provide an internationally agreed standard for compiling measures of economic activity through a coherent, consistent and integrated set of macroeconomic accounts. These accounts record how economic activity is distributed among businesses, consumers, government and foreign countries, detailing key items such as production, consumption, savings and investment. The use of internationally accepted concepts and definitions permits an analysis of different economies, such as the interdependencies between the economies of the EU countries, or a comparison between the EU and non-EU countries.
Within the EU, multilateral economic surveillance was introduced through the stability and growth pact, which provides for the coordination of fiscal policies. The future of the Stability and Growth pact is currently under discussion.
Economic statistics is one of the cornerstones of global, regional and national governance, for example, to analyse national economies during global financial and economic crisis or to put in place EU initiatives such as the European semester or macroeconomic imbalance procedures (MIP).
Additional information on statistical cooperation with the enlargement countries is provided in the Statistics explained background article Enlargement policy and statistical cooperation.
Explore further