Western Balkans: Economic indicators and trade with EU

Written by Györgyi Mácsai, Members’ Research Service (EPRS) with Mira Manini Tiwari, GlobalStat, EUI.

This infographic showcases major economic indicators for the six Western Balkan (WB) countries that are at various stages on the path towards the EU. All six exhibit a relatively consistent rise in GDP per capita, and they also show similar trends in falling unemployment rates. The female labour force participation rate hovers around 50 % (except for Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia, with lower rates), similar to the EU. EU trade in goods (imports and exports) with the Western Balkans has risen steadily since 2006, whereas trade in services has experienced slower growth. The EU has almost equal imports and exports of services from the WB states, while in terms of goods the EU’s exports have continually exceeded imports, by roughly 30 % in 2021. Serbia leads the EU’s trade with the Western Balkans, holding 50 % of goods and 44 % of services trade respectively. This paper updates previous individual publications for each of the six countries.

Read this infographic on ‘Western Balkans: Economic indicators and trade with EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.