Eurostat has published the data relating to the GDP of the 254 European Regions for the year 2003 (so just a few months before the enlargement to Eastern Europe). In spite of the financial efforts made by Brussels through its cohesion and pre-membership policies, regional disparities increased further over the previous years. The GDP percentages range from the 278% of the average GDP of the EU-25 registered by Metropolitan London to the 33% of the Polish regions of Lubelskie and Podkarpackie. One Region in every four presented a GDP lower than 75% of the gross domestic product of the EU as a whole. One Region in five, on the other hand, is more affluent than the average. London is followed by Brussels Capital (238%) and by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (234%). Then come Hamburg, Ile de France in Paris, Vienna, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in England, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Northern Bavaria and Stockholm. At the opposite end of the classification, the six poorest Regions are all situated in Poland. There are also three Hungarian Regions and one in Slovakia with a GDP lower than 40% of the EU average.
