Economy of Europe
The economy of Europe comprises about 748 million people in 50 countries. The formation of the European Union (EU) and in 1999 the introduction of a unified currency, the Euro, brought participating European countries closer through the convenience of a shared currency. The European Union is a unique global organisation, an entity forming one of the largest economies in the world. The European Union also “regulates” the global market by the single market. The difference in wealth across Europe can be seen roughly in the former Cold War divide, with some countries breaching the divide (Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). Whilst most European states have a GDP per capita higher than the world's average and are very highly developed, some European economies, despite their position over the world's average in the Human Development Index, are relatively poor. Europe has total banking assets of more than 20 trillion. Throughout this article "Europe" and derivatives of the word are taken to include selected states whose territory is only partly in Europe, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and states that are geographically in Asia, bordering Europe and culturally adherent to the continent, such as Armenia and Cyprus. Europe's top 6 largest national economies are: Germany (€4.0 trillion), United Kingdom (€3.2 trillion), France (€2.7 trillion), Russia (€2.1 trillion), Italy (€1.9 trillion), Spain (€1.4 trillion) Other large European economies with GDP (nominal) of more than €500 billion are: Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Sweden and Belgium. The European Union, with a GDP of around €14.5 trillion, generates roughly 3/4 of Europe's GDP. The EU as a whole is the third largest economy in the world, below the United States and China. Of the top 500 largest corporations measured by revenue (Fortune Global 500 in 2010), 184 have their headquarters in Europe. 161 are located in the EU, 15 in Switzerland, 6 in Russia, 1 in Turkey, 1 in Norway.
