Citizens of Luxembourg were the richest in the 27 countries of the European Union in 2006, over seven times richer than bottom-ranked Bulgarians, data underlining the wealth divide between the bloc's new and old member states, showed, Reuters said.

Expressed in purchasing power standards, Luxembourg's gross domestic product per capita was 280 units, two and a half times the 110 average of the euro zone in 2006, the Eurostats said.

With the EU's 27 member state average at 100 units, GDP per capita in purchasing power standards in Bulgaria was 37 units.

Bulgaria's neighbour, Romania, scored 39 units for 2006. Both countries scored 35 units in 2005.

Most other countries in the region had a lower GDP per capita in 2006, Serbia and Montenegro scored 33 units each, Turkey 31 units, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 28 units,Bosnia-Herzegovina 26 units and Albania 21 units.

Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia scored between 65 and 52, while Czech republic scored 79 units and Slovenia 88.

Fastest growers from 2005 to 2006 in the list were Estonia, up from 63 to 69 units, and Latvia, which went from 50 to 54 units.

Luxembourg's relative richness was partially thanks to large numbers of cross-border workers who contributed to the GDP, but were not taken into consideration as part of the resident population used to calculate GDP per inhabitant, Reuters said.

The purchasing power standard is an artificial reference currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries. Thus one unit buys the same volume of goods and services in all countries.