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Post-Crisis Icelanders Are About 30% Richer Than EU Citizens

Post-Crisis Icelanders Are About 30% Richer Than EU Citizens

(Bloomberg) -- A decade after their economy collapsed, Icelanders are a lot better off than the average European.

According to preliminary data published on Friday by the statistics office in Reykjavik, gross domestic product in Iceland last year was 30 percent above the average in the European Union.

Of the 37 countries ranked, Iceland was fifth from the top. Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita, at 153 percent above the EU average. Ireland is second, at 81 percent above the average.

Iceland isn’t an EU member, but is part of the European Economic Area. The island bounced back from its 2008 financial meltdown after imposing capital controls, leaving offshore bank creditors in the lurch and restructuring its banks. It also relied on a Nordic welfare model to keep people out of poverty. Its approach to dealing with the crisis earned its policy makers praise from the International Monetary Fund and Nobel laureates including Paul Krugman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir in Reykjavik at rsigurdardot@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net;Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net

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