In this analysis, we examine selected income, demographic and labour market indicators for nine actual and potential candidates for European Union membership. Our country group includes the six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) and three EU Eastern Partnership countries (Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine). We gauge how far they are from the EU average on the indicators, and whether and to what extent the gap has shrunk since 2003 (when the EU Thessaloniki Summit offered potential EU accession to Western Balkan countries). We also examine differences between candidates and compare them with the three newest EU member states: Bulgaria, Romania (both joined the EU in 2007) and Croatia (an EU member since 2013).