Ilustratīvs attēls
A quick overview of the Russian, Ukrainian and other Eastern European economies with some graphs and a few conclusions.
Russia may have overwhelming military forces. In some places inept and incompetent, but overwhelming. But it is not a wealthy country by European standards. Figure 1 lists all the Eastern European countries (bar Kosovo) in terms of income per person as measured by GDP per capita. Russia is ahead of only one EU country, namely Bulgaria and thus poorer than any of the other 26. Ukraine is today Europe’s poorest country, a place otherwise long held by Moldova. This is partly due to Russia – Donbass and the annexation of Crimea do not exactly spur investment into Ukraine but I don’t think I insult that many by stating that it is also the responsibility of Ukraine itself. Several of its previous leaders have been less than inspiring, in politics as well as in economics, to say the least, and corruption is endemic – Ukraine ranks 122nd of 180 countries on Transparency Internationals 2021 list. Russia is 136th while Latvia is at rank 36.
