Northern Portugal accounts for about 39% of the national exports and 29% of the national economy. The region was hit hard by the EU's expansion to Eastern Europe, globalization and centralization. Even if once the richest in Portugal and the largest regional economy after Lisbon, it is now the poorest of the 7 NUTS II regions of Portugal, with a GDP per capita of 16,000 euros, converted to 19,500 according to GDP in Purchasing Power Standards or 65% of the European Union average in 2017. It is also the Portuguese NUTS II region with the highest unemployment rate (9.5% as of 2007). Northern Portuguese authorities have intensely promoted tourism as a means to attract external investment and further incomes in rural areas.