Per capita levels of gross domestic product (GDP) vary widely. While for the European Union (EU), the average GDP per capita at prices and purchasing power parities is about 30,000 USD, the average for countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia and the Balkans is around a third of that, and for several countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia the GDP per capita can be less than a sixth of this figure. Countries with transition economies experienced a major collapse in economic activity in the early 1990s.