Quick, can you name the 10 richest members from the 25 European Union nations? How about 6 countries waiting to join the EU?

Boasting the world's second-largest economy by GDP & third-highest population, the European Union (EU) is an international trade powerhouse.

Based on World Bank Development Indicators published in July 2006, here are the 25 European Union countries and their corresponding GNP per capita based on global purchasing power parity (PPP) in international dollars. GNP per capita, also referred to as Gross National Income, represents the total amount of money that a country's consumers spend on all goods and services in a year divided by that country's population.

Countries with italicized names in the list below are also among the top ten richest countries in the world. The estimated population for each country in 2006 is shown within brackets.

EU Countries From Richest to Poorest*

1. Luxembourg (pop. 474,413) ... $61,610
2. Ireland (pop. 4,062,235) ... $32,930
3. Austria (pop. 8,192,880) ... $31,800
4. Denmark (pop. 5,450,661) ... $31,770
5. Belgium (pop. 10,379,067) ... $31,530
6. United Kingdom (pop. 60,609,153) ... $31,430
7. Netherlands (pop. 16,491,461) ... $31,360
8. Sweden (pop. 9,016,596) ... $29,880
9. Finland (pop. 5,231,372) ... $29,800
10. France (pop. 60,876,136) ... $29,460
11. Germany (pop. 82,422,299) ... $28,170
12. Italy (pop. 58,133,509) ... $28,120
13. Spain (pop. 40,397,842) ... $24,750
14. Greece (pop. 10,688,058) ... $22,230
15. Cyprus (pop. 784,301) ... $22,230
16. Slovenia (pop. 2,010,347) ... $20,830
17. Portugal (pop. 10,605,870) ... $19,240
18. Malta (pop. 400,214) ... $18,590
19. Czech Republic (pop. 10,235,455) ... $18,420
20. Hungary (pop. 9,981,334) ... $15,800
21. Slovakia (pop. 5,439,448) ... $14,480
22. Estonia (pop. 1,324,333) ... $13,630
23. Poland (pop. 38,536,869) ... $12,730
24. Lithuania (pop. 3,585,906) ... $12,690
25. Latvia (pop. 2,274,735) ... $11,820

*based on 2004 PPP GNP per capita in international$

The above list shows that the EU family of European countries spans a wide range of GNP income levels. Luxembourg's world-leading amount is 5 times greater than that for Latvia.

EU Babel

Here's a well-worn joke from Europe: The good news is that the EU now has a common language. The bad news? That language is Estonian.

While not a show-stopping punch line, the joke does highlight a major criticism of the European economic family. Specifically, the EU has 20 official languages for 25 member states. True, the European Commission (the EU's executive body that proposes and implements legislation and is guardian of legal treaties ) works only in English, French and German. Nevertheless, for all other EU documentation there is a potential 380 interpretations needed to translate all statements to and from all 20 EU languages.

Consequently the European Parliament employs over 4,000 interpreters at an annual cost of almost one billion euros. Translations into the languages of all member states can take up to a week. At times translations have to be done across intermediate languages because of a lack of interpreters for lesser-used languages. This has led to a loss of information, a lack of clarity and even translation errors.

And The Winners Are...

The average PPP GNP per capita for all EU countries is $23,758, just behind Israel which is ranked 37th in the world. Because the EU is comparatively rich, smaller and less affluent countries like Romania and Bulgaria will join the ranks of the union on January 1, 2007.

The lists below show the GNP per capita based on global purchasing power parity (PPP) in international dollars, with the estimated population for each country within brackets.

Countries to Join the EU on January 1, 2007

1. Romania (pop. 22,303,552) ... $8,330
2. Bulgaria (pop. 7,385,367) ... $7,940

Croatia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have been accepted as official candidates to join the EU.

Official Candidate Countries to Join the EU

1. Croatia (pop. 4,494,749) ... $11,920
2. Turkey (pop. 70,413,958) ... $7,720
3. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (pop. 2,050,554) ... $6,560

The following territories have been formally recognized as potential EU family members.

Potential Candidate Countries to Join the EU

1. Albania (pop. 3,581,655) ... $5,070
2. Bosnia & Herzegovina (pop. 4,498,976) ... $7,230
3. Serbia & Montenegro (pop. 10,030,548) ... $6,050

Turning to the EU's trading partners, the EU is most troubled by its widening trade deficit with the People's Republic of China.

EU Trade Buddies

According to the World Factbook, EU's main trade partners for exports in 2004 were the U.S. (24.2%), Switzerland (7.7%), China (5%), Russia (4.7%). EU's exports include machinery, motor vehicles, aircraft, plastics, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, fuels, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, wood pulp and paper products, textiles, meat, dairy products, fish and alcoholic beverages.

The EU imports machinery, vehicles, aircraft, plastics, crude oil, chemicals, textiles, metals, foodstuffs and clothing from the U.S. (15.3%), China (12.4%), Russia (7.8%) and Japan (7.2%).

The EU is an excellent example of synergy in international trade. That is, the sum of all EU countries resources as a whole is much greater than its individual parts.

EUROPA Web Sites Boom

The Internet has become a key communication tool for the European Union (EU). EUROPA, the gateway leading to the Web sites of the European Commission (EC) and other European institutions, accounts for more than 10 million visits each month.

EUROPA (http://europa.eu/) features about 200 main sites and involves more than 200 publishing teams. Every month, almost 100 million e-pages produced by the European Union are read in 20 languages. Final figures for 2004 exceeded 1 billion pages. Considering these figures, EUROPA is among the world’s biggest and most frequently consulted Internet portals. With the addition of new EU member states, even these impressive figures are certain to grow over the upcoming years.

Sources: World Bank Development Indicators for 2006 Table 1.1 - Size of the Economy and Table 1.6 - Key indicators for other economies, www.infoplease.com, The World Factbook