Bucharest-Ilfov becomes sixth richest region in EU in terms of GDP per capita. How is your capital doing?
Posted by Archaeopteryx111@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 55 comments
Measured at PPP
Kaamos_666@reddit
That mean just… so much inequality caused by so much corruption, oligarchy, and kleptocracy probably. :(
Archaeopteryx111@reddit (OP)
Nah, it’s due to the fact that foreign investment post 1989 and EU development funds go disproportionately to Bucharest. For example, the Bucharest metro area has over half of Romania’s logistical industrial space.
Kaamos_666@reddit
That’s… implicit corruption. 😅 Government is responsible with development of rural with those funds. But they didn’t. They chose to benefit rich people they know. It’s the same here. Istanbul is a giant while rural Turkey is poor.
Archaeopteryx111@reddit (OP)
Romania has Bucharest, Timișoara, Cluj, Oradea, Brașov, Craiova and Iași that are doing well. The rest of the country is very backwards. The problem is that the EU funds go to cities that have competent people at the helm to propose good projects and manage them. Small towns are lacking such competent people.
creatinZ@reddit
You… you’re onto something here
SwimmingHelicopter15@reddit
We have no hot water. We are doing "amazing".
To be fair is normal to have a high GDP per capita because most firms have their residence there.
Confident_Escape_715@reddit
Who needs hot water when we have high GDP?
SwimmingHelicopter15@reddit
Right, while we heat water on the oven we can look at the paper "Bucharest the highest GDP per capita"
Archaeopteryx111@reddit (OP)
So do all the other capitals, yet Bucharest is still up high.
SwimmingHelicopter15@reddit
Not really. In other countries there are more companies spred around.
In Germany you have Munchen and Frankfurt.
In Italy you have Milan and Torino.
In France you have Lyon and Marseille.
In Poland you have Krakow and Katowice.
For us is to much concentrated.
MegaMB@reddit
France is not really a good example, we're much closer to the UK, although less extreme than Greece. Paris urban area is 15 million people. Lyon urban area is 2,3 million people.
However, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg or Lille are still very much wealthy cities.
alexidhd@reddit
In the examples you mentioned, the secondary cities are way closer to their capital in terms of population size (Rome is 2.7M Milan is 1.3M, Paris is 2M just the city not metro area, while Marseille is 0.9M). Meanwhile, Bucharest has a greater population than the 7 next most populated cities in Romania, combined....
SwimmingHelicopter15@reddit
And why Bucharest has a high population? Because except other 4 cities the rest is poverty? Because people voted the same corrupt politicians? Because we have the highest rate of people living in the rural area?
Neutrinomind@reddit
Because that was the urban system that Romania got. Other cities besides Bucharest are not bigger not because corrupt politicians or poverty, but because they never were big functional centres to begin with.
alexidhd@reddit
Yeah, the rural exodus is still an ongoing process in Romania because of a series of communist policies, while it ended in western countries around 1970.
This giant difference has nothing to do with recent political context or anything remotely close, our demographical structure has been mostly the same for a very long time, since before Cuza at least. The relative proportions between Bucharest and the other big cities in the country have been aproximately the same for a long time (in 1857 for example Bucharest had 130k inhabitants while Cluj Napoca had 25k - it was 5 times bigger, nowadays is around 6 times... not a huge change)
Dreadscythe95@reddit
In Germany Belrin has very low percent of the economy, it's one of the poorest major cities.
drjet196@reddit
Not really all capitals. France is very centralized but Germany, Italy aren‘t. In the Balkans however centralization is a big problem.
Dear-Ad1582@reddit
Mandatory by law.
SwimmingHelicopter15@reddit
What law? You have plenty other companies in other cities.
Dear-Ad1582@reddit
Used to be a law all state companies had to be moves there.. And it was a big issues since profitable ones were spread. Romgaz for example was in Medias.
MartinBP@reddit
Pretty sure he meant the hot water because it's illegal to unlike old apartments from the centralised heating network.
Vegetable_Radio3873@reddit
What is hot water? Is that code for something?
Vargau@reddit
No hot water = no hot water in the centralised heating ex-commie system that is designed with a centralised water supply that provides both heating and hot water, where if one main pipe burst no more heat water for 10-20-40% of the network.
The network has a massive spread within the central area in most of all districts.
It’s one of the very very few benefits of communism that we left it rot and turned to shit.
The heating distribution system is absolutely fucking ancient, the pipes in some areas are older than 50 years old, before 2020’s not a single pipe changed.
To decouple from the network and move to individual heating units, balkan style, you need gas lines and neighbours signature so quite complex, especially post 2018 when local laws were passed to hinder people decoupling their flats from the network.
Now they’re changing lots of pipes, but the system is close to his death bead and has started to collapse, even it can be saved.
At any given moment there an emergency shut down in the network and people actually don’t have hot water to take a damn shower.
HanDjole998@reddit
Great we are having Ricky Martin concert on the 21.05 for 20th Independence day. The accommodation capacity in the city is at 90%
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit
Ireland is also more richer than Switzerland in terms of GDP per capita. Tell that to an Irish about how he is more richer than an Swiss.
National_Hat_4865@reddit
Tbf if he paying 9€ for chicken roll that means labour cost is high in Ireland and also that people can afford to pay 9 euros for a simple roll. But yeah, irelands gdp is distorted.
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit
I mean that if you can afford €9 but only get €12 in total, it’s not really that great. Same thing applies to Romania more or less.
Strange_Status_7690@reddit
Bukurešt is probably the most business cosmopolitan Balkan city along with Athens.
dwartbg9@reddit
Depends by what you define business cosmopolitan?
Antique_Birthday6380@reddit
That Romania is miles ahead of your country in every aspect.
Strange_Status_7690@reddit
I see it has large business districts and it's capital of a close to 20 million country. probably has attractive oportunities
Emotional-Account182@reddit
istanbul?
Archaeopteryx111@reddit (OP)
Depends what you mean. Istanbul is a bigger hub, but Romania now serves as a crucial gateway to the EU that has become more important over time, especially now due to its geostrategic location.
certificatdenastere@reddit
K economy, GDP per Capita is great, the median income and wealth is shit. Oligarchy
StamatisTzantopoulos@reddit
Good job Romania, well-deserved.
_CHIFFRE@reddit
It looks like they used the PPP rate of the country and applied it to the region, which often produces misleading results, for example some regions in Eastern Europe have much higher price levels/cost of living than the country on average.
This flaw catapults the per capita PPP of Shanghai, Beijing, Moscow, Jakarta, Bangkok to $65-75k
Archaeopteryx111@reddit (OP)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucharest
Nominal GDP per capita is 57K euros. Still very high.
_CHIFFRE@reddit
true, although 45k for the region https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucure%C8%99ti_-_Ilfov
ProductGuy48@reddit
Bucharest is like San Francisco: some people are parking their Porsche and others are shooting up next to the parking garage
Stealthfighter21@reddit
At least no one shits on the street
Odd-Future1037@reddit
Really? Measured at PPP? We have the highest inflation in the EU? How are they measuring this?
Odio-gli-imbecilli@reddit
Inflation is a great thing for those rankings, it boosts nominal GDP.
Also, Bucharest is really rich in general, all eastern european capitals were left with capital-centric infrastructure which is very good for growth
Beautiful-Dish-6275@reddit
Extremely mid
Archaeopteryx111@reddit (OP)
Never been to Zagreb. Should I skip it?
phantoms1n@reddit
Zagreb is boring as shit. Split and Dubrovnik are worth a visit.
Dear-Ad1582@reddit
Split??? Just a jungle of everything through around a port. Domitian palace is cool though...
Beautiful-Dish-6275@reddit
I mean its fine, you can visit most of the sights in one day tho if you are going there as a tourist.
Its a fine city to live and work in id say.
Archaeopteryx111@reddit (OP)
Nice! Have you visited Romania?
Beautiful-Dish-6275@reddit
No, but i do intend to.
Happy_Vendor_2718@reddit
GDP per capita, does not account for inequalities.
The only reason it's that high it's because all the official headquarters of the big companies are located here, as well as all the other companies of very rich and influential people.
Average salary its less than 20k EUR, while the GDP per capita it's at 70k.
Several-Zombies6547@reddit
This just means that all of Romania's companies are headquartered in a single city, which isn't actually amazing news. Sounds like high regional inequality.
Sad_Number2559@reddit
The news is trash and yes, we have big regional inequality. On the good side, we have a few other regions that are doing pretty well, like Cluj, Timisoara, Sibiu, Craiova, Brasov and Iasi but everything else is really poor.
m0mchilo@reddit
Belgrade is tier above every other city in Serbia in terms of income, job opportunities and standard of living.
Yes, it's a chaotic concrete jungle with horrible public transportation and insane rent, but there's a very good reason why most young people want to move there.
Archaeopteryx111@reddit (OP)
Yeah, Serbia seems to have Novi Sad and Belgrade.
ThickCaterpillar9867@reddit
Ireland gdp per capita as a whole is 150.000 $ ,I do not get it how the richest region is lower than national average.