Economic Profile for Each Country in Western Europe
Austria
The economic system for Austria is free market. The HDI Ranking of Austria is #23, which is also the average of where they have been since about 2000. The GDP per capita as of 2013 has been about 50,546.70 in U.S dollars. The major economic activities are service with service at 70%, industry at 28%, and agriculture at 1%. Their major imports are motor vehicles, metal goods, and oil products and the major exports are machinery, equipment, and motor vehicles. This together is part of why Austria is considered a country that is an NIC.
Belgium
Belgium is a free market economy and the HDI Ranking of Belgium is #21, which has been steadily improving since the 1900’s. The GDP per capita is 46,877.99 in US Dollars. The major economic activities is service with it being at 77% and industry at 22%. Belgium’s major exports are machinery, equipment, chemicals, and metal and metal products and Belgium’s major imports are raw materials, chemicals, machinery, equipment, pharmaceuticals, and raw diamonds. This puts Belgium as a NIC.
France
France’s economic system is mixed. The HDI Ranking of France is #22, which is lower than their previous years because they used to be consistently #20. The GDP per capita is 42,503.30 in US Dollars. Their economic activity is service at 76%, industry at 21%, and agriculture at 3. Their major imports includes machinery, equipment, vehicles, chemicals, crude oil, and aircrafts. Their major exports includes machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, and pharmaceutical products. Even though they are still advanced, they are still classified as an NIC.
Germany
Germany’s economic system is a social market economy. The HDI Ranking of Germany is #6, which is significantly better than most of the other countries in the Western Europe sub-region. The GDP per capita in Germany is 46,268.64 which is average of what countries in Europe have. Germany’s economic activity level includes 69% in service, 30% in industry and 1% in agriculture. Their major imports includes machinery, data processing equipment, oil and gas, and electric equipment and their major exports includes motor vehicles, computer and electronic products, and transport equipment. With all of these things put together it is easy to see that Germany is classified as an MDC.
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein has a free enterprise economic system. The HDI Ranking in Liechtenstein is somewhere around #30 because of the fact they have not been evolving very much as a country. They’re GDP per capita is 134,617.38 in US Dollars which is significantly higher than in many other countries. The economic activities has 60% in service, 39% in industry and 1% in agriculture. Their major imports includes agriculture products, raw materials, and energy products and their major exports includes small specialty machinery, connectors for audio and video, and parts for motor vehicles. Because of their HDI Ranking, they can still be considered an NIC.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg’s economic system is free enterprise. The HDI Ranking of Luxembourg is #22 which has been steadily increasing throughout the years. The GDP per capita is 110,697.03 in US Dollars which is a very good GDP per capita. Their economic activities includes 79% in service, 20% in industry, and 1% in agriculture. Their major imports includes commercial aircrafts, minerals, and chemicals. Their major exports includes steel products, chemicals, and rubber products. This places Luxembourg as an NIC.
Monaco
Monaco’s economic system is free market. The HDI Ranking in Monaco is somewhere around #3 because they have one of the highest rankings in the world. The GDP per capita is 163,025.86 in US Dollars which is higher than any of the other countries on this list so far. The economic activities includes 86% in service and 14% in industry. Their major imports includes food, fuel, and manufactured good and their major exports includes fish and kava. Monaco’s overall level of development is MDC.
Netherlands
The Netherlands’ economic system is free market. The HDI Ranking in Netherlands is #5 which is very high like quite a few of the other countries in this sub-region of the world. The GDP per capita is 50,793.14 in US Dollars, and this can be considered low because of how high some of the countries have had their GDP per capita. Their economic activities includes 70% in service, 18% in industry, and 2% in agriculture. Their major imports includes clothing, chemicals, fuels, and machinery and transport equipment. Their major exports includes chemical, fuels, and machinery and equipment. All of this together puts Netherlands as an NIC.
Switzerland
Switzerland’s economic system is market. The HDI Ranking in Switzerland is #3 which is pretty high. The GDP per capita is 84,815.41 in US Dollars which is surprising low due to their HDI Ranking. Their economic activities includes 73% in service, 26% in industry, and 1% in agriculture. Their major exports includes watches, chemicals, and metal. Their major imports includes textiles, agricultural products, machinery and metals. Putting all of these economic aspects together shows that this country is easily classified as a MDC.
Western Europe Current Economic State
Most of the countries in Western Europe are considered to be highly developed countries. On average, they all have very high HDI Rankings and GDP per capita. This leads to this region of Western Europe to be considered to be very rich in terms of their economy. It can also be seen that many countries are advancing because their economic activities are involving less agriculture and more service and higher level activities now a days. With Western Europe being in its current state, it can be said that Western Europe has a bright future ahead of them in terms of economic.
Effects of the European Union on Western Europe
The effects of the European Union on this sub-region of Europe has been very good so far. This alliance is going to provide Western Europe an even more promising future than it already has. This is probably one of their best decisions ever made so far. The advantages that the European Union brings to Western Europe includes free trade, new job opportunities, freedom of movement, access to health benefits, and worker protections. However the disadvantages of the European Union on Western Europe includes inefficient policies, the cost of memberships, and problems with currency.