The wealth divide between the European Union’s new and old member states is starkly illustrated by new EU research data. It shows that the people of Luxembourg are the richest in the 27-country bloc. They have over seven times the purchasing power of the bottom-ranked Bulgarians.

Expressed in gross domestic product, purchasing power standards the average for the 13 nations using the euro is 110. Luxembourg is a whopping 280 units. Quite a way behind, at 146 is Ireland. The newest euro zone member Slovenia is at 88 and Portugal has a score of just 75.

Europe’s biggest economies - Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain - were slightly above the EU average.

The purchasing power standard is an artificial reference currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries. One PPS buys the same volume of goods and services in all countries, allowing volume comparisons of economic indicators across countries

Within the EU, the poorest are the Bulgarians and Romanians. Even poorer are EU candidate members Macedonia and Turkey. The poorest country in Europe in terms of purchasing power is Albania, which scores just 21 in terms of the purchasing power standard.