Europe's Smallest Economies

Europe is home to four of the ten biggest economies in the world, according to data by the World Bank. But what about the smallest fish in the big European pond? As our chart indicates, the economies with the lowest gross domestic product (GDP) are not necessarily the least populated ones.

For example, Monaco and Liechtenstein, which generated the eigth and seventh lowest GDP respectively, are leading the world in GDP per capita. This can be attributed to both countries being classified as tax havens. Monaco, for example, has low business and no income tax, while Liechtenstein is famous for its low tax rates as well. The grand prize for the smallest economy in Europe goes to the small archipelago of the Åland Islands just south of Finland's coast. Even though it could technically be counted as a Finnish territory, it gained its autonomy in 1920, becoming completely neutral and demilitarized. Its roughly 30,000 inhabitants managed to generate a GDP of 1.46 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.

The countries and regions of the Euro area contribued a GDP of approximately 13 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020, making up 15 percent of the world's GDP. Its biggest economies at the moment are Germany, the UK, Italy, France and Spain.