This rate of convergence is unusually rapid, both in historical and global terms. A marked growth in trade as European economies have become more integrated has been a major stimulus, exports and imports between the Cohesion Four and the rest of the EU doubling in real terms between 1986 and 1996 and now amounting to over 100 billion ECU in both cases. Significant disparities remain, however, and convergence remains a long-term process. In addition, although GDP per head in most of the poorer regions is converging towards the EU average, the pace at which this happens varies and different types of region have performed very differently. Rural areas, in particular, are vulnerable, especially those with heavy dependence on agriculture.
New challenges lie ahead.
Enlargement in the past has brought new problems for the Union, but also new opportunities and increased diversity. The prospective enlargement to the East is no different in these respects. The changing global environment, moreover, with the intensification of competition that it brings, underlines the need for continued support for regions undergoing economic and social restructuring, so that they are able to take advantage of the new opportunities and new markets which are opening up and which are just as much part of global change. The measurement of the quality of life GDP, which is the statistical measure of total output of an economy and, therefore, of the income which it generates, is commonly used as an indicator of economic welfare. In recent years, however, there has been growing interest in the development of alternative indicators that measure the quality of life in a broader sense than simply the amount of goods and services which are produced and the income associated with this.