The Nordic countries differ in their economic structure but they all have developed electricity and heat systems that have relatively little fossil fuel input Whereas, the extractive industries in the Nordic countries make the material flows from the region unusually high as compared to the mean of the EU countries. Per cent See Figure 14 below. For instance, the GDP growth rate focuses on the overall economic activity, but tells nothing about the structural development of the economy and the development in income or wealth distribution, etc.