The Netherlands is second only to neighbours Luxembourg in the most prosperous countries in the EU, the CBS has revealed.

Measuring prosperity

The measurement of prosperity is based on the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of each country, with differences in price levels taken into account. The data, which dates from 2011, reveals that the level of prosperity per capita in the Netherlands is more than 30 percent higher than the EU average.

Increasing prosperity

The Netherlands has made a lot of progress with regards to increasing prosperity over the past three decades. In 1995 the Dutch were seventh in the EU when GDP per capita was measured, but thanks to an above average growth in GDP the country is now flying high.

This is the second year in a row that the GDP per capita of the Netherlands has placed it as the second most prosperous country in the EU, and earlier this year, the Legatum Prosperity Index ranked the Netherlands as the eighth most prosperous country in the world.

Top 5 most prosperous EU member states

›  Luxembourg
›  The Netherlands
›  Austria
›  Ireland
›  Sweden