Capitals in Eastern Europe, such as Bucharest, Sofia, Budapest and Warsaw compete with almost any major city in Western Europe in terms of economic development, according to a World Bank report.

However, the disparities between the main cities and the secondary ones in low-income countries are much higher than in any other part of Europe, according to the same study.

“In Europe’s less developed countries, leading cities like Bratislava and Bucharest look a lot more like more like Rome, Madrid, or Copenhagen than they do like any other part of their own country,” the report reads.

The study also shows that, if the trends of the past decade were to continue, by 2025 the poorest regions of Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria will be richer, on average, than the lagging regions of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.

editor@romania-insider.com