AVERAGE INCOME per head in Ireland was joint third highest among the 27 member countries of the EU in 2010, according to new figures.

Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, found gross domestic product (GDP) per capita last year was 25 per cent higher than the average – on a par with Austria and Denmark. Only Luxembourg and the Netherlands had higher average incomes in 2010.

Ireland has suffered by far the largest decline in average income of any EU member in recent years, In 2007, per capita GDP was 47 per cent above the average for the 27 member bloc. In 1995, before the Irish economy began growing rapidly, incomes were 3 per cent above the average.

The figures are adjusted for price levels so that the purchasing power of incomes is more accurately expressed.

However, the figures may overstate the Irish position as most economists believe that another measure of income – gross national product – gives a truer reflection of wealth creation. GNP in Ireland is around one fifth lower than GDP. The former measure excludes the profits of foreign companies operating in the country which are unusually large.

GDP per capita in the member countries varied from 43 per cent of the EU27 average in the poorest member country (Bulgaria) to 283 per cent of the average in the richest (Luxembourg).

The nine poorest EU members were all former communist countries. Portugal is the lowest income country without a communist past. Average incomes in the Iberian state are 81 per cent of the EU average.

The figures include 10 non-EU European countries. Albania is the Continent’s poorest country, with average per head income just 29 per cent of the EU27 average.