Why is Western Europe richer than Eastern Europe?

With the exception of what became the Czech Republic, most of Eastern Europe was always more agrarian and therefore poorer than much of Western Europe. read more

With the exception of what became the Czech Republic, most of Eastern Europe was always more agrarian and therefore poorer than much of Western Europe. Much of the European theatre of the Second World War happened in Eastern Europe, in today’s Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic countries, the Balkans and Russia. read more

I was actually under the impression that western europe had always been richer than eastern europe. If you could talk more about the time when and how eastern europe was richer than the western part I'd really appreciate it. read more

A: The premise of this question is arguably incorrect. West Asia (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon etc) has lower socio-economic status than East Asia (Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore etc). read more