A natural exclusion from the EU? Turkey below European counterparts in consumption, GDP per capita

Turkey is below the 28 European Union member countries in terms of its consumption per capita, according to a report released by the EU Statistics Office (Eurostat).

Turkey stood 45 percent below the average for EU member states in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) per person, a comparison Eurostat makes using the purchasing power standard (PPS). The PPS is an artificial currency unit that eliminates price-level differences between countries. This unit allows meaningful volume comparisons of economic indicators across countries.

The statistics also revealed that a product bought for 100 euros in EU countries can be purchased in Turkey for the equivalent of 58 euros.

The PPS comparisons cover 28 EU countries, in addition to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries (Switzerland, Iceland and Norway), four EU candidate states (Turkey, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the potential EU candidate of Albania.

The highest-level GDP among the EU states was recorded in Luxembourg, with a level almost 40 percent above the EU average, while Bosnia and Herzegovina is the lowest with 29 percent.

According to the statistics, Norway has the highest level of consumption per capita, with a value of 139 percent, while Albania has 36 percent.