The eastern regions of Turkey are generally the poorest, while northwestern Turkey is the richest and serves as the country’s cultural and economic center. This divide is so deeply ingrained in Turkish culture that it feels strange to imagine it being different elsewhere. However, in some countries, the eastern regions are actually the wealthiest, while the west is poorer. How is it in your country?


22 comments

  1. North East (closest to Europe) and Madrid (capital) are the richest. Southwest are the poorest.

  2. Unknown to many, the poorest regions / cities in Germany are not located in former East Germany, but actually the former West these days. The absolutely poorest are Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg (both in North Rhine Westphalia), followed by Halle (Saale) in the former East.

    The richest regions are in the South, especially around Munich where Starnberg is located, the absolutely richest of all, followed by Heilbronn (city of birth of the Lidl owner, who heavily invests there) and Hochtaunuskreis near Frankfurt, the banking centre.

  3. It is quite hard to quantify though, because there are different metrics that can be used. If you do not count the overseas territories, then Seine Saint Denis (north-east suburbs of Paris) has a high poverty rate. Then some rural areas, especially in the north of France (which were massively hit by outsourcing of manufacturing industries) and what we call the empty diagonal.

    Richest region is obviously Paris, but else some places like on the Riviera or in Savoy close to Geneva are also rich

  4. There are several rich and poor spots. But in general richest are Het Gooi east of Amsterdam. Places like Blaricum and Naarden. The coastal region between Haarlem and The Hague like Bloemendaal and Wassenaar. And some neigborhoods in big cities like Oud Zuid in Amsterdam.

    Poorest are East Groningen like Delfzijl or South Limburg like Heerlen. Some neigborhoods in the big cities can have poor neigborhoods as well.

  5. Vilnius County is the richest (then goes Kaunas and Klaipėda counties) and the poorest is the Tauragė County.

  6. Brussels is where the poorest people live and the richest people work.

    The (former) industrial and mining towns in Wallonia are generally quite poor as well.

    Richest are the residential towns near Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent.

  7. The poorest region is probably north-west borders of Germany, around Ústí nad Labem. The richest is probably the capital, Prague.

  8. North Italy has most of the industry the south is more agricultural.

  9. Of the 10 poorest municipalities in Belgium, 6 are located in Brussels; the other 4 are in Wallonia around Charleroi and Liège, which used to house heavy industry and mining activities.

    Of the 10 richest municipalities in Belgium, 5 are along the Belgium-Luxembourg border, due to people working in Luxembourg, where the wages are a lot higher, while living in Belgium. The other 5 are all in the periphery of Brussels.

  11. Portugal:
    – Oeiras and Cascais are the richest municipalities
    – Rabo de peixe is the poorest

  12. The poorest region is the southern part (Wallachia) and the eastern part (Moldova) with the later being the poorest and least developed. The richest is Transylvania with the Banat and Crișana, the two Western-most regions, as the richest and most developed in the country.

  14. In England, the south is the more affluent part and specifically the north east is possibly the least wealthiest, specifically Cleveland

  15. Lombardy is usually regarded as the richest Italian region, as it is home to the city of Milan. Calabria, instead, is not only the poorest italian region, but also the poorest subnational division of the entire European Union.

    Some other economic “bests”:

    The region with the best welfare is Emilia-Romagna. The one with the worst is Calabria (again)

    The region with the best healthcare quality is Tuscany, although Veneto sometimes overtakes it. The worst healthcare is found in Calabria. Again.

    South Tyrol has the smallest unemployment rate of all regions. The worst unemployment is found in (you guessed it) Calabria. AGAIN.

  16. The wealthiest region is Istria if we don’t count Zagreb as its own region.

    The poorest is easily Slavonia which is closer to countries like Serbia and Bulgaria in development than rest of the country.

  17. Vale do Ave used to be the poorest. Either that or Alentejo. Vale do Ave was very industrial and most industries closed down or are just textile which has a low value propositon, having to compete with extremely cheap Asian sweatshops.

    Alentejo because it is very depopulated and mostly agricultural based.

  18. Think the capital, Oslo, holds both the poorest and the richest region in the country. In a traditional east vs. west side of the city.. Think some statistics some years ago showed that oslo were the city or capital in europe with the biggest socio-economic differences between east and west-side of a city. They say that people in western oslo has 6.5 years higher/longer life-expectancy than those on the eastern side of the city. Classic east with very high immigrant/non-native population in low paid jobs, and west-side with mainly white/western highly educated population with well paid jobs..

  19. In Switzerland the northwestern region of Jura is the poorest. Zug in central Switzerland the richest. Its a tax heaven where around 13 % of the population own more than 1 million usd.

  20. Newfoundland is the island of the eastern coast of Canada. Due to the isolation there’s alot less work. Fishing has historically been the dominant industry, but with new regulations on when and how many can he caught, the island has been struggling financially for a while.

    There’s also plenty of indigenous nations in Canada, since they are treated as sovereign, they all have their own government, a few of these governments are highly corrupt and put the federal funding in their pocket, while the people struggle to heat their house or get clean water.

    Downtown Toronto is the part of Canada where you’ll find the billionaires. There’s also communities outside most major cities where the scale of wealth can be rather absurd here. Billionaires in Canada are either in a Toronto penthouse, or some mansion in the woods.

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