Tracking how the Western Balkans converges with the EU – in people's everyday lives.

converge2eu is a regional initiative that tracks whether the Western Balkan countries are catching up with the European Union economically, socially, and institutionally. It goes beyond the formal EU accession process to ask a more concrete question: how do people in the region actually live, and how does that compare with the lives of their fellow EU citizens?

Why This Matters

EU accession negotiations track clusters opened, chapters closed and benchmarks met – not whether convergence is actually improving people's lives. Data connecting reform to lived outcomes is often scattered across six countries and hard for policy- and decision-makers, journalists, and citizens to use. converge2eu closes that gap with one shared, comparable picture.

Goals & Purpose

• Track convergence across eight dimensions of life quality — economics, social conditions, health, education, environment, governance, digitalisation, and infrastructure — in all six Western Balkan economies.
• Equip policymakers, donors, and civil society with accessible, comparable data to ground EU integration debates in evidence rather than assumption.
• Translate that evidence into scenario analyses and policy recommendations connecting the accession process to on-the-ground impact.
• Build one shared regional reference point — used consistently by researchers, journalists, and institutions across six countries, rather than six separate national pictures.

Coverage

Six countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

Eight dimensions: economics, social conditions, health, education, environment, governance, digitalisation, and infrastructure.

Overall score: a ninth, aggregate measure calculated as the simple average of the eight pillar scores — one number showing each country's total convergence with the EU.

48 indicators in total:

• Economic: GDP per capita, average gross wage, minimum wage, average net pension, output per worker, GFCF per capita
• Social: unemployment rate, employment rate, income share of the poorest 20%, income share of the richest 10%, gender employment gap, social protection spending
• Health: health spending, life expectancy, infant mortality, hospital beds, physicians, out-of-pocket health expenditure
• Education: education spending, harmonised test scores, tertiary enrolment, tertiary attainment, pre-primary enrolment, NEET rate
• Governance: voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption
• Environment: premature deaths from PM2.5 pollution, renewable energy, energy intensity, carbon intensity, waste recovery, protected areas
• Digitalisation: households with internet, e-government use, firms with websites, ICT exports, ICT value added, basic digital skills
• Infrastructure: motorways, roads, railway tracks, electricity capacity, safely managed sanitation, safely managed water supply

What We Produce

1. Downloadable Interactive Database — the full underlying dataset, open for reuse; explore convergence data by country and dimension, comparable to the EU average, in absolute euro terms, or against Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania at current level.

2. Annual and Regional Reports — 6 country-specific and 1 regional convergence assessments.

3. Scenario Analyses — 4 modelled pathways to EU membership: Full EU Membership, Access to EU Budget, Access to EU Single Market, and Institutional Reforms.

4. Policy Recommendations — evidence-based, addressed to national and EU-level policy- and decision-makers.

Organisational Structure

2 coordinating institutions — Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) and Think Europe

6 Western Balkan partners — Dritan Shano in Albania, Centre for Policy and Governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Riinvest Institute in Kosovo, Institut Alternativa in Montenegro, Association for Research and Analysis ZMAI in North Macedonia, and Institute for Development and Innovation in Serbia

1 donor — Open Society Foundation – Western Balkans

1 goal — shared by an estimated 16.5 million people across the region.

Creative direction: Koma Studio (design); Bitsia IT Solutions (development).

By the Numbers

6 countries tracked · 8 dimensions · 48 indicators · 7 reports per year · 400 pages of analysis.

Our Driving Principle

Data with purpose. Analysis with policy impact.