GDP per capita change in European regions in select years 1973-2000
Between 1973 and 2000, GDP per capita in Southern Europe increased by 85 percent, while in Central and Eastern Europe it fell by 10 percent. In spite of the economic hardships of the 1980s, GDP per capita grew across the Eastern Bloc between 1973 and 1990, the impact of communism's collapse saw it fall by 21 percent (of 1973's rate) in the 1990s.
