According to data from the World Bank, the total gross domestic product (GDP) of all the countries mapped in this atlas in 2012 was 18 trillion and 673 billion US dollars, which is approximately one quarter of the estimated total GDP of the world. The total GDP of a country is equal to the market value of the goods and services produced by all sectors of that country’s economy in a year. To allow comparison outside of Europe, GDP per person (per capita) is usually recorded in US dollars.

Germany has the largest GDP, followed by France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. However, Monaco has the highest GDP per capita (US$163,026), followed by Liechtenstein (134,617), Luxembourg (107,476), Norway (99,558), Switzerland (79,052), Denmark (56,210) and Sweden (55,244). The lowest values are found in Kosovo (3,453), Albania (4,148), Bosnia and Herzegovina (4,446), FYR Macedonia (4,589), Serbia (5,189), Montenegro (6,183), Bulgaria (6,986) and Romania (7,942). Note that these are not average annual personal income figures. However, in countries where income inequalities are lower, and where shareholders and very rich people take fewer profits, the figure for GDP per capita is closer to that of the average personal income.

This map shows the absolute increases in gross domestic product since the economic crisis started in 2007/08. The figures have all been converted to what are called ‘constant 2005 US dollars’ to eliminate any distortions due to inflation. There are 23 countries that experienced an absolute increase over the period to 2012. These were mostly in central Europe, with Germany, Turkey and Poland standing out. However, in relative terms the largest increase is observed in Kosovo, with its GDP growing by 25% between 2007 and 2012, followed by Albania (20%), Poland (18%), Turkey (16%) and Slovakia (10%). It is also worth noting that the economies of Switzerland, Norway and Sweden did not shrink overall during this period of massive economic slump.

The cartographic technique used to create these cartograms does not shrink away completely countries that should not be shown as the distortions created would be too severe. They would appear to be like black holes sucking in parts of the continent (see Chapter 1).