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Convergence Objective
Nearly 82% of the total expenditure is used to help the poorer Member States and regions develop their infrastructures, as well as their economic and human potential. The convergence objective seeks to foster conditions and factors that encourage growth and lead to the convergence of the least developed Member States and regions. In the EU-27, this objective covers, on the one hand, eighty-four regions in seventeen Member States, where one hundred and fifty-four million people live, whose GDP per capita does not exceed 75% of the Community average; and on the other hand—on a phasing-out basis—, sixteen regions more, where nearly sixteen and a half million people live, whose GDP is slightly over the threshold, given the statistical effect of the enlarged EU. The amount available within the convergence objective is EUR 282,800 million, which accounts for 81.5% of the total, and is divided as follows: EUR 199,300 million for convergence regions; EUR 14,000 million for phasing-out regions; and EUR 69,500 million for the Cohesion Fund, which is applied to fifteen Member States.
