Abstract
This paper uses economic indicators, to explain the economic growth and current economic situation of the countries in the Balkan Peninsula, in southeast Europe. As a region that was involved in an armed conflict during the 1990s, these economies have shown similar growth patterns throughout the years, according to the data we collected and analyzed. However, the paper is organized in two different group of countries, first the group of Slovenia and Croatia as current members of the European Union, and the other group of countries as non-EU Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. This paper argues that the EU member countries do have a more stable growth rate, and perform better while the other group the non-EU countries should follow the same patterns and work towards the European Union integration. As the paper argues that it would be more suitable and it would be more beneficial in the end to catch up with other European countries and maintain a sustainable economy.

Table of Contents
Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................ 1
Table of Contents .............................................................................................. 2
List of Tables and Figures ................................................................................. 3
1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Background on the participating countries ....................................... 4
Slovenia .................................................................................................................. 5
Croatia..................................................................................................................... 5
Bosnia & Herzegovina ..................................................................................... 6
Montenegro ........................................................................................................ 6
Serbia ..................................................................................................................... 6
Macedonia,FYR ................................................................................................... 7
Kosovo ................................................................................................................... 7
Albania .................................................................................................................. 8
2.0 Literature review ......................................................................................... 9
2.1 Population and economic growth ........................................................ 9
2.2 Health and economic growth .............................................................. 11
2.3 Education, technology and economic growth ................................. 11
2.4 Geographic position and economic growth ...................................... 13
2.5 Government policies and economic growth .................................... 13
2.6 Political stability and economic growth ............................................... 14
2.7 Inflation and economic growth.............................................................. 15
2.8 Investments and economic growth ..................................................... 16
2.9 Trade and economic growth ................................................................. 17
2.10 Income inequality and economic growth ....................................... 18
2.11 R&D and Economic growth ................................................................. 19
3.0 Research Methods ...................................................................................... 21
3.1 Research materials ..................................................................................... 21
3.2 Data collection .............................................................................................. 21
3.3 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 22
4.0 Results on economic indicators ............................................................. 23
4.1 Country comparison in terms of GDP growth .................................. 23
4.2 Trade in terms of Exports and Imports ................................................ 24
4.3 Corruption ....................................................................................................... 27
4.5 Income distribution and population growth ..................................... 29
4.5.1 Population growth .................................................................................... 30
4.6 Foreign Investments as percentage of GDP ....................................... 33
4.7 Government...................................................................................................... 35
4. 7. 1 Government expenditures, Public debt as percentage of GDP ... 35
4.8 Inflation ............................................................................................................. 37
5.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 38
6.0 Contribution .................................................................................................... 39
Appendix .................................................................................................................. 40
References ............................................................................................................... 51

List of Tables and Figures

Table 1: Literature review conclusion ........................................................ 20
Table 2: The average per country GDP growth annual % ................. 23
Table 3: GDP per capita per country 2015 ............................................. 24
Table 4: Trade in terms of Exports and Imports per country ......... 25
Table 5: Corruption index rankings per country ................................ 28
Table 6: GINI index (World Bank estimate) ......................................... 29
Table 7: Population in total, 2015 census.............................................. 32
Table 8: Index of economic freedom country rankings .................. 34
Table 9:Public Debt, Government expenditures and inflation in percentages per country in 2017. ........................................................................................ 35
Table 10: R&D, government expenditures % of gdp ......................... 36
Figure 1:Corruption index map .................................................................. 27
Figure 2 :Population growth (annual %) .................................................. 31
Figure 3: FDI as % of GDP .............................................................................. 33

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