Will Eastern Europe OVERTAKE Western Europe? 

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Yes we are still poorer than west. But our streets are very safe compare to west europe. And this is priceless.

Eastern European countries are the perfect demonstration of how powerful the EU is. It's not just a trading block. It has lifted millions out of poverty.

In 2000 the GDP of Romania was around 38 Billions. In 2028, Romania is projected GDP is to be over 400 billions , 12 times more comparing to 2000...Mindblowing....

i'm a romanian IT worker having worked over 15 years in IT sector in Romania in Cluj-Napoca. The low taxes to It workers were a big factor for the large investments but the major advantage Romania had during the starting years was was not at all the investment in it computers for schools, but the buildup of internet access infrastructure around the country together with the large influence of post 90s television( think MTV, cartoon network for english or Viva or RTL for german in transilvania) . These language skills facilitated the young population to quickly learn and easily communicate with with western world. But even before the 2006 internet boon, i can remember it was full of internet cafes full of young people just chatting on mIRC or playing games. I remember fondly my first days on a computer were playing fifa98 in an internet caffee with school colleagues while learning the lyrics to blur's famous song 2 by heart at the age of then 12. As an example, the first time i visited Hungary i was shocked that nobody i came in contact with spoke English.

When Polish transport companies started dominating on the common market by superior quality and price, France and Germany introduced the Displaced Worker Directive, effectively killing them. Fair play ? :-)

I left Romania 9 years ago for the UK. I go visit only every 2-3 years so it’s easy to spot the progress. My first and only job after finishing high school and before I left, I was paid 400 something euros per month. Now, 9 years later, my sister that still didn’t finish university got a job in Human Resources, as a beginner and first job at 1000 euros without bonuses and add ons. The whole country is changing and it’s easy to see from my perspective, looks a lot different than when I left, and a hell of a lot more than 15-20 years ago when I was a kid. I won’t surpass Germany for example, wages could get closer but not more. It’s still good, mind you, prices are a lot lower in Romania and Eastern Europe in general than in the West. So a close wage to the West ones would mean similar living standard since expenses are lower. My wife is Polish and we’re not planning to stay forever in the UK since everything went down the drain with Brexit, Covid and war in Ukraine. Life was dope before here. So we’re having a hard time deciding where we want to build our forever home as both Poland and Romania are going in the right direction.

As a Pole, I think it's worth saying one thing. The problem with Shock Therapy was that it made almost 20% of Polish unemployed in 90s (1993 was very bad) . There was no work, especially in smaller cities. Inflation was reduced, but a large group of people had no money to buy food. Only people with money which they gained during communist times (of course in most of times illegally) wasn't harmed, they used opportunity to get richer even more.

Romanian here, in the last 20 year we had incredible economic growth, my country is almost unrecognizable from a decades ago. Today we have decent wages, lots of good jobs, low crime rate, low personal debt and jobs are very easy to find, in fact we have a shortage of workers and is common to see ads from businesses looking for people,BUT we are not going to surpass western counties like Germany due to low birth rate and strategic position. Romania is aging fast and looking at current birthrate i don't know who i could hire in 20 years time. There are very few children, lots of young people move to wealthier countries and here in Romania we have a depleted workforce. My countryman need to start having more sex and make babies because in a few decades from now there will be no workforce if this trend continues. I'm a millennial and looking at the younger generation i see even less interest in having a family and kids. If we don't change this culture we are going to become irrelevant in the next decades

Yes of course because Polish, Romanians, and Bulgarians filled the worker's gaps in the WEST and all the money they send it back home, money earned very hard. Eu did nothing just making double standards and was an open market for all the western companies like banks, and retail stores, buying all the competition. If the economy is bigger that doesn't mean is better or is a healthy system.

Higher GDP sounds good and all, and I'd like a video on how the quality of life changed. IT workers in Romania like myself are very privileged, but a lot of people without higher studies are still struggling

Wow, incredible video! I love that you delved into each country, rather than just generalizing like some other channels do, its super refreshing to see. I also love the format with the length, the intro, and it's also nice to see the face behind the voice!

One of the Czech words for supermarket, samoobsluha, means literally "self-service," pointing to the innovation at the time that you pick the goods up from the shelves yourself. You can still find smaller shops in Russia and Ukraine that sell groceries over the counter - not easy to shop there if you don't speak the language! :)

Maybe not the East won't surpass Western Europe, but the Southern one certainly. I am half Belgian (Fleming) and half Italian and I often travel between the two countries. Every time I pass from Belgium to Italy I feel like I'm going back 20-30 years.

European funds for Eastern Europe were intended as compensation for the abolition of customs duties and making their markets available to unequal and unfair competition with entities from Western Europe. Some Western countries, such as Sweden, Germany or the Netherlands, used this opportunity very well, others, such as Italy or France, much worse. Similarly, with the use of EU funds by Eastern European countries, some allocated funds for appropriate investments, other countries misappropriated these funds.

Judging this from a west vs east german perspective, it looks like a smaller version of west vs east europe. At the start east german GDP was around 1/3 of the west german GDP but it grew very quickly to around 80% now. However catching up has drastically slowed and almost halted for the last 10 years or so. I would assume it might result in something similar for eastern europe.

I'm from Italy and I think my nation will be overtaken within 10-15 years by almost all the countries of Eastern Europe (in terms of GDP per capita) This is because, in my opinion, this country has taken the anti-modernist drift, most likely caused by a mythologizing of the past (what could be defined as a cult of the golden age), where by past I don't necessarily mean the Renaissance or humanism , but also simply the era of the post-war economic boom; My feeling is that there is an idea that everything used to be better and that this will come in the future is an abberation that will challenge the status quo. Here many people believe in the idea of ​​degrowth, of tradition, of the rural environment as an ideal place. Practical examples can be 1) the recent ban on cultivated meat which is seen as a threat to local farmers (although most of the meat comes from intensive farms in the Po Valley). The impossibility for Italian companies to invest in this sector will ensure that the necessary know-how cannot be developed and therefore we are already destined to fall behind. 2) The strong reluctance to use cards instead of banknotes, the latter being considered as real money, as opposed to "virtual" money. For now, the only consequences are that tax evaders are protected and the mafia rejoices in this. 3) The apprenticeship idea to enter the world of work, many employers offer starvation wages because they are convinced that a new employee does not deserve a full salary, and then many young people end up fleeing abroad (brain drain) 4) Deep hatred for electric cars seen as the object that will bring the glorious years of Italian automotive history to the grave (I can understand being against the ban on thermal cars, but the problem here is politics, not electric cars per se). As with meat, the Italian auto industry will lag far behind. 5) The structure of today's Italian school is still that of the school of the Fascist era, every attempt to modernize the educational system is also seen as a modern devilry. The problem of the Italian school is that it is very notional and theoretical, and often the pragmatic aspect is overshadowed. Many Italians arrive at university not knowing the basics of programming and knowing nothing about economics (subjects taught in a few specialized schools). 6) Strong lack of interest in learning the English language. Many people who have abandoned compulsory schooling, especially in rural areas, even forget standard Italian and speak only the dialect, English is perceived as distant as the Martian language. The lack of knowledge of English and the fact of withdrawing into one's own bubble is leading people to not know how the rest of the advancing world works, while abroad there is talk of artificial intelligence that could replace jobs, in Italy we talk about whether Beppe's cow or Toni's cow produced more milk. I believe that all these factors condemn my country to remain very backward, at least until a complete generational changeover. It doesn't help the political class which obviously insists on defending the Italians from the future, promising a happy return to the 50s and 60s.

I will give u eastern Europe…. We are CENTRAL Europe 🎉💪🇸🇰🇨🇿🇵🇱

As a Romanian who works in the IT industry, I am sorry to tell you that you are very wrong. The government has zero credit for internet speeds and they did not invest in education at all, in fact the Romanian education system consistently ranks near the bottom. The reason for the high internet speeds is particularly the fact that the government staid out of it. In the early 2000s, thousands of small private ISPs popped up and they were viciously competing with each other for customers, the main selling points being high speed and low prices. Even today, if you live in an urban area, there are at least two-three ISPs to choose from, so competition is fierce, which keeps speeds high and prices low. As for the IT specialists part, it's partly a trick. Programmers in Romania are exempt from paying income tax, so what many IT companies do is to hire even non technical staff as programmers, because in the end no income tax means lower payroll costs. This isn't technically legal, but it's not explicitly illegal either, so more like a loophole.

2:38 One thing about grocery shopping in Poland. It's not that all we had back in the socialism era were small shops with old ladies by the counters. There were several classes of shops and the ones that you mention were called GS (Gminna Spółdzielnia - 'Municipal Cooperative'), and were to find in the villages and small towns. In bigger towns, since the late 1950's, there were also SAM shops (SAM being shortening of 'samoobsługowy' - 'self service'), which were like minimarts, and SUPERSAM markets, which were like supermarkets. In shops of SAM and SUPERSAM classes baskets and carts were used, as they were, like the name said, self-service stores. Main problem still were product shortages and variety.

one clarificatin , the romanian government did NOT offer internet acces, the internet infrastructure was not due to the government but due to private local companies

Very interesting video! Thanks a lot as always! Keep it up mate! 😄👌

I prefer the videos where you see graphics and videos instead of the presenter talking, but in general I quite like your channel!

I live in the Czech Republic. The income gap between this country and Germany has been being enormous for the last more than thirty years and is nowhere close to being bridged. The extension of the EU eastward has been a very successful neoliberal project that enabled Western European businesses to take over former Eastbloc industries and to produce more cheaply, because of lower labour costs, worse labour conditions, lower ecological standards, etc. At the same time, it has provided them with new markets. The former Eastbloc countries have to a certain extent become colonies of the West. Politically they belong to the periphery, they're not powerful. Economically they are dependent of Western European and other foreign investors. If Volkswagen decides to move the production of Skoda cars to Morocco, there's not much the Czechs can do and it would mean an enormous blow to the Czech economy.

Another great video. About the Eastern Europe, If hasn't been done huge mistakes on the transition now they could have been even better.

First, the entire premise of this video is flawed right from the start. This strictly two-dimensional East/West concept of Europe was an artificial 20th century cold-war era geopolitical construct. For approx. THOUSAND years there has been always strong CENTRAL Europe (Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire) and with a few decades of an "intermission" during the 20th century, Central Europe is playing its connecting role once again. Just like there's no homogenous Eastern Europe, there's no homogenous Western Europe either. Countries like Finland and Portugal have literally NOTHING in common! Geographically, historically, culturally or ethnically. In fact, SOUTHERN Europe with its enormous economic problems is a world on its own, completely different from, for example, Scandinavia. If anything, the division line of Europe goes via NORTH and SOUTH, not West and East like in the 20th century! And if Finland with its North-Eastern location right next to Russia can be called "Western Europe", then Czech Republic with its Central-Western location right next to Germany and Austria (and GDP per capita higher than Spain or Portugal) can be called "Western Europe" as well! 😎Only an absolutely ignorant and undereducated person can call Czech Republic a "developing country"! Check out any reliable sources (this is only one of them, obviously: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_country#/media/File:IMF_advanced_economies_and_UN_least_developed_countries.svg). The region of Bohemia/Czechia or today's Czech Republic has been highly developed and industrialized at least since the 19th century and prior the WW2 it was already one of the most developed and richest industrial areas in whole Europe and world (that's why Hitler needed it so much)! Not to mention that this part of Europe has always belonged to Central/Western Europe geographically and to WESTERN Europe culturally, religiously and politically (and four decades of the 20th century socialist/communist regime couldn't change that).

It's important to note that a huge chunk of the economy is still unreported and hence both total GDP and GDP per capita figures will be lower than reality. In Romania, it is estimated that 25% of the economy is still happening behind the scenes with little to no tax paid. This is either due to unregulated businesses or local village economies in which people don't have jobs but do help the locals with day work duties such as house building, agricultural work, house maintenance and so on.

Well done, mate! Apologies for taking so long to “watch later”, but ur new videos keep getting better! Keep it up, bro!! I keep telling others about ur channel. At the very least, I finish any of ur videos as an even more informed global citizen!!

This is one of my favourite channel on RU-vid. Thats why I ve subscrieb.

Amazing work!!!!!!! The wait was more than worth it, I think this is my new favorite EU made simple video. You covered so much and I love how you used relevant examples from every Eastern European country!!!! Also, the video quality is better than before. I am very interested in this topic ( being non EU Eastern Europen) and I've watched many videos covering the economics of Eastern Europe. This is by far the best one. If this is the new channel strategy then I can't wait to see what comes next.

Love your long form videos! Always super interesting

The Poland is fastest growing country In Europe just after Ireland ;). Keep going Polska!

As a Pole, I disagree that the current gdp per capita is 14k euro, last time I checked it was somewhere between 16k to 18k.

Frankly, the UN classifications of what is Eastern Europe and what is Western Europe should be changed and updated, because as you yourself wrongly said, many people then has a picture of them as 'developing post Soviet bloc countries', which they are certainly not nowadays.

This is a key factor you mentioned. They will slow down once they come closer. It seems Poland is the only realistic option of those countries to come close enough.

very well documented material. hats off!

This was an fantastic video. Very informative. I have subscribed.

I understand the logic for the term "eastern Europe" but it is annoying, since Poland is central Europe. Indeed, they are the most central point in Europe based on the continent map, if I am not mistaken. Since the Soviet Union is dead, it is annoying we still use the terminology, but I guess it makes sense historically. Eastern Europe would be Russian lands inside the continent, but these definitions are complicated geographically.

Hungary is not in Eastern Europe, it's in Central Europe!

The quality of the internet in Romania has little to do with the government, which has been mostly incompetent, but with the free market. I've lived through the internet boom of Bucharest of the early 2000s, and the reason it has managed to grow so fast and so well was that every tech savvy boy every few blocks would start an internet provider business. The quality of STEM education did help, but it was merely a leftover from the communist times.

It was Poland that doomed the Berlin wall. The Poles have always had it tough. The USSR robbed Poland without conscience. No USSR. Poland unleashed a hungry lean mean ambition to succeed.

Hey. Loved the video. Even though I’m from Lithuania and I do strongly agree with the Baltic states being Northern European but I expected to see all former Warsaw pact/ex soviet countries in this video. I think you should do a video of the rapid change of the Baltic states. Since the baltic states were called the “baltic tigers” economically for a while and nowadays Estonia and Lithuania having large start-ups. Lithuania is building the largest tech campus in the EU right now and is trying to be the Silicon Valley of Europe.

Coming from a romanian, it's actually quite impressive what we manage to acomplish despite a corrupt goverment, lack of infrastructure, massive brain drain, emigration and low birth rates. Still, I don't think we will not reach the west economy any time soon. At least not my generation.

Very very informative. Excellent analysis. Very well done

2:00 USSR collapse in 1991. So not after but before collapse of USSR. This is important because Poland was the first country of the eastern block that overthrow communisms thanx to Solidarity Movement and Lech Walesa. This was the beginning of freedom that spread over the rest countries. Not the collapse of Berlin Wall or collapse of USSR that comes after that. 4:10 In 2004 not only Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary joined EU but also other east European countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. 9:20 Romania is doing quite well, but despite everything, Poland is the clear IT leader in the region and has attracted many more companies than the other mentioned countries.

Really great video. I just think a more fare comparison would be Eastern European countries, with southern countries

Nice video, you did your research. However, there are some mistakes and omissions. E.g. Slovakia has 5.4 mil population, not 4. And as for East catching up with the West, you are right that it's not going to happen any time soon economically, however, its political weight increases significantly due to the war in Ukraine.

Another great video! Nice graphics and content. Nice to finally see you talking into the camera instead of only voice over! Did you use an apsc lens on a full frame body? 🙃 Keep up the good work, great youtube channel!! Glory to the E.U. 🙂

I find in Bucharest a lot of westerners working remotely or opening small businesses here. Also I see a big growth in immigration from Asia and turists, the same as Germany in early 2000.

In Poland GDP per capita has grown 500% but within the GDP there is none product of Polish industry. Almost all GDP is in foreign hands. Result? High cost of living, low earnings. We are living in a country that is dying off because after 1989 we became a colony of cheap labor. Have a look on fertility rate. It is way below 2.1. Our nation is dying off because of well being? Someone is not telling the true story here...

Love the longer video

The main reason for the remarkable growth was to low point at which they started. After many years of stagnation under the old regime, it was obvious that the growth would be over par for sometime. The second reason, the money exit from the east to regime that were more favorable to investors of any kind. Eastern companies moved their factories west to take advantage of cheap labour and favorable tax consideration. Now that labour is going to start demanding fair compensation and less corruption in their government, expect growth to slow considerably. Another concern for those countries is the diminishing Germain capability to fund their development. Germany was the main provider of the necessary money to achieve their development. Now that Germany itself is facing major problems, they will have to manage the outflow of money and jobs more carefully.

I'm happy to see you (literally)😀

I think people call Poland eastern out of confusion, caused by it being trapped in eastern block. That's not eastern country though, it's a bridge between West and East

It's insane how much time passed and the countries are closing in for example my nation Poland had Nominal GDP in 2000 - 172,2 billion it is expected to reach 1 trillion (first Eastern European Continental Economy to enter such numbers) by 2028 literally 10x

Very interesting, however please make sure that all your figures have comprehensive legend. As an example, we do not know what is the unit used in the "EU net beneficiaries in 2021" table. Is it absolute multiplicators or is it a per capita value?

3:15 It's not the Poland, it's Russia or maybe even USSR. Text on board in russian: "Bread it's not the only gift of nature, bread it's our labor. Don't forget this. So take care of our caravaj". Caravaj is some sort of traditional bread in Russia. 3:20 picture is the symbol of Olympic game in Moscow in 1980. I'm pretty sure it's a Soviet-Union Moscow. You have to be better prepared choosing footage for the video.

Yo...as a romania,when i was a kid i did got a free computer from that gov program, it was not the best, but at that time it was a decent computer, and yeah,i was pretty poor

That the Eastern European countries grew faster is normal according to economic growth models, like the Solow model. Growth functions are slowing down after some time. And come in a steady state growth rate.

Poland has the highest number of IT professionals - just to be precise. An the number is growing due to influx of Ukrainian and Belorussian IT pros.

Sir, you disinform. The EU pays so called structural subventions in exchange for the beneficiaries to open their markets to stronger competitors from the West, who greatly benefit from this process. Case in point - the supermarket chain you mentioned no longer exists, replaced by French and German megacorporations. French Auchan, Carrefour, German Lidl, Kaufland, Roseman control almost the whole of Polish grocery markets.

Even though you explain what you mean by "Eastern" Europe, Czechs absolutely hate being considered part of Eastern Europe.

As a hungarian. I can tell you those EU money can stay in Brussel. I hope stays. Gonna explain why. 1.LGBTQ members still can't go to our schools to "educate" our children. Most hungarians thinks only 2 person have the rights to educate kids about sexualities/genders. And those people are the parents/caretakers of the kids. No one else especially not a guy who thinks its a girl. 2.Emmigration problem. We all know what happened in France over a month ago. An emmigrant stabbed multiple children for no reason. Even assaulted an another guy with a knife. Also SA (seksual assault i wrote it wrong because i dont want to go against the rules 😂) are increased in other countries where those people are free to go. Even some experts said Hungary's chance for leaving the EU are increased because of these reasons (maybe i forgot to mention something idk). And if the prices in the grocery shop goes higher because of this then so be it. My country is pretty safe and safety for myself and for my family members are worth more than any ammount of money. Only people who can take refugee here are the Ukrainians(because of the war) and some wild ahhh bear from romania Both are pretty chill,but we dont want muslims here.

A few points: -None of the countries presented were part of the soviet union -GPD has no relevance on the quality of life -Eastern European countries did benefit from EU integration but lets not pretend EU did it because of the goodness of their heart. They wanted to expand the market, have access to cheap labour and maintain it cheap and of course, getting all the skilled people from those countries through immigration (Romania lost 4-5 mil people in 15 years). -Eastern European countries will never surpass Western European countries. Do you really think those countries will just roll over and let the east take over their industries, capital etc?

Poland will not take over Germany in economic measure but it will definitely compete and will a a economic force to be reckon with . Considering that only china has bigger economic exchange with Germany than Poland and not by that much.

thanks a lot. it is very informative video. just 2 questions: why baltic countries have not been included and why lux is a net beneficiary if it is has the highest GDP per capita?

Thanks for this very interesting video!

All in all this is not so surprising, given the fact the between the World wars, Czechoslovakia was cca 10th country in the world in terms of GDP per capita and other post-Austria-Hungary countries were in a comparable position. This region has been slowed down by the WWII and subsequent socialist totalitarianism, especially after 1970. But they're not as backwards as Russia, they're just getting back on track.

Great video. Didn't have time to answer to your feedback feed; - but would say videos between 6-12 minutes would be ideal - To create more activity and debate on your channel, it would be great if you could publish polls and quizzes on your profile to keep the activity going, when you're in bewtween making new videoes - Would prefer videos with audio only explaining the topic. It is not necessary for me to have a person in it Looking forward to 40.000 subscribers🇪🇺! Congratulations

in Romania we live at the poverty limit, our minimum salary is 350 euros net, medium salary is 700 euros, and whos lucky at multinationals 1000-2000 euros, buuuuuut take in the account that everything is 10-20% more expensive than the western countries,everything!

8:59 i wouldn't count Škoda as foreign direct investment but i now what u mean with it because VW invested. And you could have also put Hyundai there but verry nice Video good Job

According to the most current IMF estimates, Poland is on track to become wealthier than the UK by 2030 but will also overtake every G7 nation except the US by 2040. Poland’s economy will economically overtake the UK by 2030 in terms of GDP per person, followed by France, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany by 2040. This shouldn’t be a surprise unless you haven't been following Poland’s economic success over the last 15-20 years with the exception to some late bloomers who are just starting to take notice. Poland’s gross domestic product is currently £28,200 compared with £35,000 in the United Kingdom. The average yearly growth rate in Poland is 3.6%. In the UK over the last decade or so it has been 0.5%. If those trends continue, in about five years the average Pole will inevitably become wealthier than the average Brit. The IMF forecast also showed that Poland’s GDP in 2023 will reach $748.9 billion. China will be at the top of the pyramid with $19 trillion dollars, and the largest economy in Europe is still set to be Germany with a GDP of $4.3 trillion dollars. Poland’s GDP is forecast to reach $1 trillion in 2028.

I left canada to retire in hungary best decision ever

Thanks a lot!

Some informations in the video are misleading. In fact, the Balcerowicz Plan was implemented in Poland almost two years before the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. The final downfall of the Soviet empire was a result of the central European countries breaking free from communist rule, not its cause.

Let's face it, Germany - the leading force in Europe hasn't changed much since the 1920's onwards. I find them changing the narrative on WW2 as them being the 'victims of the natzi terror' as cringe worthy. Let's NOT forget that Germans had voted in millions for Hitler and his 'crew'. Nowadays You have their ex PM sitting in the board of directors of Gazprom,Angela speaking Russian fluently etc. Germany giving a green light for invading Georgia, then invading Ukraine Twice and getting pipelines in return. Nowadays they're pushing their narrative on the rest of Europe with all the CO2 & Eco stuff whilst the rest of the world is gaining competitive advantage as they can produce cheaper and hassle free.

As eastern countries wages rise towards the levels of Western Europe they will become much less attractive places to invest. The majority of big investments are being made in Eastern Europe by international not local firms, who will choose the country offering the lowest wages or incentives. There is bound to be a rebalancing but any idea that Eastern Europe will somehow overtake “Western Europe” (and by this I really mean Germany, the Netherlands, France, Sweden and Finland) is extremely unlikely.

With the exchange of a planned economy to a capitalist, free market, it is normal for the Eastern economies to "catch-up" in some sense. But we must not forget the massive immigration which has occurred since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bulgaria has lost roughly 25% of its population, which has moved to western countries and had their economic impact there.

I would call this simplistic, as it misses a few important points. First if you go from a state owned economy to a capatilist one, it is bound to increase GDP. State owned companies dont make a profit where as Capitalist ones do.. More GDP does not nescesrily improve the live of ordinary people as those profits are paid by them for the same goods. Masive increases in rents and the cost of serviceses has helped increase the wealth gap that is growing in the west. The east my well overtake the west but in a way that makes life harder not better.

As a Romanian, I have to tell you to revisit your research. Romania and Hungary (Bulgaria too perhaps) have never been part of the Soviet block. Communist yes, but not soviets. Dyr please. You lost me at that, sorry

If you added comparisons to the baltics the stark differences between 90’s and 20’s would be even more astonishing. While they can’t match these countries by size and population the bottom where it all had to start with planned economy and the progress they’ve done is astonishing. Thats not to say that the warsaw block countries had smaller progress its amazing in its own right.

Ahem. The main reason why a small economy can grow much faster than a larger economy, is usually because the smaller one has been _small_ and that should have been the first bullet point not one of the last ones. That is how "small" China has achieved 15% growth rates in the 1990s... but cannot maintain that rate any longer now that they're big in business. I welcome the idea that Central-Eastern Europe grows to the point to compete with the Western neighbours. But an _overtaking_ is not within sight. If Serbia starts to integrate, we could have an integrated Danube economic region, which would be _great_ for Eastern growth. But even then I don't see it.

God bless Eastern Europe. We had enough of communism. Now a new era is coming and the sun is shining on our sky.

Great video! But as a Hungarian I felt such cringe when you brought up 2004-2008 period as an example like never before. One of the reason for those positive numbers was the rapid rise of the minimum wage in the public sector, which resulted in a huge budget deficit just a few years down the line. By the time the 2008 financial crisis hit we were already in huge trouble and things just got worse... It is basically also the period that Orban keeps pointing back to as an example of bad governance by his opponents, which is enough to keep him in power indefinitely...

It will certainly catch up to Western Europe but overtaking will be hard. What determines the power of a European nation? Geography and population. Lets make an analysis: 1) Southern Europe Has a very bleak future. The once very wealthy nations of Spain, Greece, Portugal, and other mediterrainian nations are kinda locked in. They were very dependent on the ancient Europe that stretched into Africa. They were strategic countries between Africa and Europe. This transition plus their relative population made them powerful. As long as Africa and the Middle East are basically destroyed they will keep their wealth on their current level, with pensions and money secured as long as they stay in the Union, but to rise to former glory like during Rome, they need to revive all the economies around the mediterrainian sea. 2) Western Europe (UK, Ireland, France) Actually there we need to do separate analysis between the islands and France. France will remain powerful, also worldwide. France still has a lot of overseas territories that will become increasingly popular as soon as the EU discovers geopolitical ambitions, in addition it has a large population and very deep ties to the core industry of Germany. Frances power will be political in nature, not such much economical. Ireland will remain on their level. They have a natural disadvantage when it comes to population and geography when it comes to open competition, but the Irish have made a good deal with the EU and their ingenuity politically will keep them prosperous. (it has a massive GDP per capita). The UK is pretty much an unknown future. Hard to say. Brexit? Rejoin? IndyRef? So many variables. Any analysis would be no much more worth than a guess. 3) Nordic Nations Not much to say there, they know they are directly dependent on their connection to the continent and their internal policy. As long is there is no major upheaval in either not much will change. Population is very low, that is why they need to work together to represent their interests. A turn against migration will probably follow, otherwise their are making major infrastructure projects to connect the flow into the continent which is key for their prosperity. They will continue to be rich and relatively quit and happy. 4) Central Europe Better called Central EU. I call that Netherland, Belgium, Germany, Western Poland, Czekia, Austria, Slovenia, Luxembourg. --Eastern Poland cannot be central because it as an EU border with no influx of goods and people (at least desired once). --Netherland and Belgium have huge population for such a small region and provide a very route between France and Germany, imagine it like curvature space, where straight lines are not the shortest path, thereby connecting around 120 m people. --Slovenia is a curvature country between eastern and souther and Central Europe, huge geographical benefit! --Austria, Czekia, Germany are completely immersed and are true central EU These countries will rise regardless because they connect East and West, North and South. You remove these countries you do not have a Europe anymore, then it would become more like Oceania. Also population is huge in Central Europe. As long as the Union holds and no border arises these countries will automatically benefit, no matter the economic downfall due to Russian resources, they will all recover in time. Once Ukraine joins Slovakia and Hungary will join these countries, probably not to the extent like Germany or Western Poland but they will certainly benefit hugely. The biggest threat to them is splitting the Union, that is why you see European federalism emerge there, like in western Poland, Germany, Netherlands and so on. Should Scotland join, the old influence of Netherlands on the sea will reemerge. Between these countries the groups with the most people will dominate, the most homogenous groups will lead the research and consumption, the more likeminded these regions become the more they will rule Europe for now. 5) Eastern EU Baltics, Eastern Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia +former Yugoslavia region Hungary and Slovakia are already covered above, they are a border countries which will rise by further EU expansion. Hungary will hugely benefit when Romania and Bulgaria join Schengen and euro this year. Slovakia when Ukraine and Moldova join. Eastern Poland and Baltics will be somewhat limited. Baltics can prosper by connecting Nordics via Poland to the continent. eastern Poland will remain poor, because they will remain a hard border country with Belarus for the foreseeable future. South eastern Poland will benefit from Ukraine joining. The former Yugoslavia countries that are not currently in the EU have a problem with Serbia, once all 6 balkan countries join they can connect southern to Central Europe and prosper. Croatia is already on the right path and will benefit once the neighbors to its east and south join the EU, Croatia will lead this region for the next decade, until Serbia with its 6m people is fully integrated and has catched up to the west. Bulgaria and Romania are border countries. To their south not much can be expected from turkey under Erdogan, once turkey becomes liberal if it ever should, they would benefit massively. You can imagine these countries as the Istanbul of countries connecting Europe and Asia. You have to go through these countries if you want to go by land. But for them it is not bleak even as border countries. Both will join Schengen and euro this year or during the next year and they are on the Black Sea. As the EU awake geopolitically this sea will be of much importance, also to connect the caucasus region. They should invest into their harbors. _______________________ I hope I have not forgotten your country dear reader and I am ready to discuss.

No better way to overtake someone than to lose millions of your population to them and spend significantly more on your military. The east has grown more, not in spite of, but because of its rough position 30 years ago. The billions pumped into the east by the west also helps.

The eastern EU counties will soon hit the problem of the middle income trap and demographic decline. It's not quite as rosy as it seems. As a romanian millenial I can see how far our country has come, but we are not rich by any means.

Can you make a video on how net beneficiaries are calculated? What does it mean exactly?

Greetings from Poland 🇵🇱

i think it also has something to do with them not being woke

The Baltic States are also part of the former Eastern Block. Estonia's development has been extraordinary.

What year is the GDP per Capita numbers from? In 2022, the top three were Luxemberg, Ireland, and Denmark.

Ive said it once, and ill say it again. Slovakia is central Europe, not Eastern. We are quite litteraly in the geographical centre of Europe

And suddenly 1,5 million Slovaks died overnight. Slovakia have 5,5 M citizens. Yes it is over 4M ...

Hi, just 2 short thought adding to the video... 1st: Hungary will be a netto depositor into the EU within1 or 2 years from now on. So if you talking about how many money HU recieve from EU do not forget, that at the beginning it was true that HU "get money" from EU but not any more . I presume this is also applicable in case of Poland / Slovakei / other eastern countries. 2nd: western EU doesn't interested in lifting eastern countries. They earn a huge amount of money with deploying factories in eastern europe, because the salary. An example: a Systemadministrator earns 4-5000 EUR in Austria or in Germany, the same Systemadministrator gets approx. 1500 EUR in HU. Of course the salary is not the same in HU / Poland / other Countries, but still, western EU can make a huge profit without doing anything if they decide to estabilish a Factory in eastern europe. Moreover: if any product is produced in e.g.: HU, they'll take it to western EU, relabel it, and then sell it again in eastern EU but of course for a higher price... Of course the 2 example I mentioned above doesn't describe the full picture, the reason why I've mentioned them is to extend the angle here...

During ww2: - Croats forced Jewish and Serbian children to eat bread mixed with glass, in Croatian children concentration camps......

what made yugoslavia not east? especially since slovenia and croatia are considered west, even when these two countries did not exist back then. extra question: why is germany still divided in west and east and czechoslovakia divided into czechia and slovakia? the german reunion happened before yugoslavia collapsed and before czechoslovakia was split into two. so this map makes no sense.

Slovakia has 5.5M population btw :D

Bro you got the thumbnail wrong because Croatia is in the west of Hungary and you didn't highlight it. Just letting you know ❤

Very good video, but as a Slovak, i would like to correct you. Slovakias population is not 4 but 5,5 mil. 😊