The 20 Poorest Countries in Europe 2023

Almost all of Europe’s poorest countries are located in the east of the continent, many of them former members of the Soviet Union. The wealth or poverty of a country can be measured both in GDP per capita and in nominal GDP.

• GDP per capita divides the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country by its number of inhabitants.
• Nominal GDP represents the monetary value of goods and services produced in a country during a given period of time. Therefore, this metric offers a wealth of the country as a whole, that is, in a more generalized way.

Ukraine, the poorest country in Europe

According to the latest data from the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine has a GDP per capita of $4,650. This means that, on average, a Ukrainian earns 4,650 dollars a year (about 4,307 euros).

Following the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, political uncertainty and weak administrative capacity contributed to the decline of the Ukrainian economy. However, between 2000 and 2008, the country maintained constant growth. In fact, the year 2000 was the first year of growth for the Ukrainian economy since its independence from the USSR.

However, the 2008 financial crisis aggravated a stronger but still weak Ukrainian economy. All of this, together with the outbreak of the Crimean conflict in 2014 and the subsequent Russian invasion of the country in February 2022, has further led to the weakening of the Ukrainian economy.

Between 2021 and 2022, Ukraine’s military spending has increased by 640%, going from $5.94 billion to $44 billion and accounting for 33% of the country’s entire GDP.

The poorest countries in Europe according to their GDP per capita

#	Country	GDP per capita (in USD) (2023)	GDP per capita (in USD) (2022)
1.	Ukraine	4650	4350
2.	Moldova	6340	5670
3.	Azerbaijan	6760	6830
4.	Albania	7060	6460
5.	North Macedonia	7380	6610
6.	Georgia	7600	6670
7.	Belarus	7940	7860
8.	Armenia	8010	6580
9.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8220	7340
10.	Serbia	10,850	10,360
11.	Montenegro	11,290	9,810
12.	Turkey	11,930	10,620
13.	Kazakhstan	12,310	11,440
14.	Russia	14,400	15,440
15.	Bulgaria	14,890	13,110
16.	Romania	18,530	15,850
17.	Hungary	19,390	17,300
18.	Poland	19,910	18,280
19.	Croatia	20,540	18,430
20.	Greece	22,590	20,620

Read Also: The 25 Richest Countries In Europe

The poorest countries in Europe according to their nominal GDP

#	Country	Nominal GDP (in millions of USD) (2023)	Nominal GDP (in USD) (2022)
1.	San Marino	1810	1690
2.	Andorra	3670	3400
3.	Montenegro	7030	6100
4.	North Macedonia	15,280	13,670
5.	Moldova	15,830	14,410
6.	Malta	19,410	17,780
7.	Albania	20,180	18,510
8.	Armenia	23,730	19,500
9.	Georgia	27,950	24,610
10.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	28,490	25,480
11.	Iceland	28,630	27,840
12.	Cyprus	30,860	28,470
13.	Estonia	41,550	38,130
14.	Latvia	47,400	42,230
15.	Slovenia	68,110	62,170
16.	Azerbaijan	70,030	69,910
17.	Belarus	73,540	73,120
18.	Serbia	73,960	70,910
19.	Lithuania	78,350	70,520
20.	Croatia	78,880	71,020