People living in the northern city of Groningen had the fourth highest regional GDP per inhabitant in Europe in 2008, according to new figures from the European statistics office Eurostat.

The top three of the 271 EU regions were Inner London in Britain (343% of the average), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (279%), Brussels in Belgium (216%).
Groningen came in fourth at 198% of the average, followed by Hamburg in Germany (188%). Noord-Holland and Utrecht also featured in the top 20.
The complicated calculations also take local pricing levels into account when working out the regional GDP, Eurostat said.