Economic Convergence in the Western Balkans

Over the past two decades, the Western Balkans have made only limited progress in closing the gap with the EU: the region’s average GDP per capita rose from 27% of the EU average in 2003 to 41% in 2024 (see Table 1).

In November 2023, the European Commission announced the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans to accelerate the region's convergence with the European Union, creating the need to create a monitoring tool assessing the policy outcomes of the Western Balkans’ Reform Agendas.

Leveraging data and input collected as part of a decade-long policy assessment by the OECD, the first pilot version of the Scoreboard was launched in 2023 to inform the discussions at the Western Balkans Berlin Process Leaders’ Summit.

The second edition, Economic Convergence Scoreboard for the Western Balkans 2025, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, provides a comprehensive picture of the region’s economic convergence with the EU between 2014 and 2023. It draws on 35 outcome indicators across five policy clusters—infrastructure and connectivity, skills, business environment, digital transformation, and greening—as detailed in the accompanying brochure.

The 2025 Scoreboard report is accompanied by a set of supporting materials, including a dashboard that presents the key convergence scores by policy clusters, as well as individual fact sheets that provide the picture of economic convergence for  Albania - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Kosovo* - Montenegro - North Macedonia - Serbia.

Additional information on the methodology employed in the Scoreboard is also provided with a detailed Technical Annex and the underlying Data-set.