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The income gap between the candidates and current EU members is larger than in any previous enlargement. In 2000, four EU member states registered a per capita GDP less than the EU average: Finland (99 percent of the EU average), Spain (81 percent), Portugal (74 percent), and Greece (68 percent). Only two of the twelve candidates recorded a GDP per head greater than Greece: Cyprus, with 82 percent of the EU average, and Slovenia, with 71 percent of the EU average. Four candidates recorded per capita GDP less than one third of the EU average: Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, and Lithuania. The Czech Republic and Romania showed the largest declines in per capita GDP in relation to the EU average over the 1996—2000 period; however, most candidate countries registered improvement.

The main idea of the paragraph

The income gap between the candidates and current EU members is larger than ever. Of the twelve candidate nations, only two recorded a per capita GDP larger than 68 percent, and four candidates’ per capita GDP is less than one third of the EU average.

请国和欧盟成员国的收入差别比以往任何时候都要大，在十二个申请国中，只有两个申请国的人均国内生产总值超过欧盟平均数的68%，四个申请国的人均国内生产总值不足欧盟平均数的三分之一。