1 Between 1999 and 2008 Greece and Spain witnessed a significant convergence of their per capita income to the euro area average. In Portugal this convergence came to a halt in 2003. Ireland continued to experience a tremendous increase of its per capita income between 1999 and 2007.
On average, between 1999 and 2008 per capita GDP increased at a yearly pace of 3.4% in Greece, 3.4% in Ireland (GNP) and 2.0% in Spain, much higher than the average for the euro area (1.4%), which was broadly similar to that of the US (1.5%).