Ilustratīvs attēls.
As we all know, Latvia is not among the richest of the EU countries, see Figure 1. Nothing new there. Over the years I have seen many calls for faster catching up, not least with the Nordic countries, which are affluent countries with mostly good infrastructure and institutional development. The most recent example I have seen is from Progresīvie but they are certainly not alone.
At the moment, Latvia’s GDP per capita is 54% of that of Denmark, 59% of that of Sweden and 64% of that of Finland.
Full catching up is thus not around the corner but is it even realistic? Historical data say no, see later.
Figure 1: GDP per capita (USD) at Purchasing Power Standards, IMF projection for 2022, EU27 + UK
