GREATER Manchester is the 14th largest wealth-generating area in Europe.

The county beats the Irish capital, Dublin, and Scotland's top city, Glasgow. Greater Manchester had a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of £34 billion in 2001.

Just pipping the county was Birmingham which came 12th in the table with a GDP of £36 billion. But London is top of the European league table as the continent's wealthiest city, beating Paris, Milan and Madrid.

The capital's economy was estimated to have a GDP of £159 billion in 2001, well ahead of Paris at £89 billion and Milan at £74 billion, according to research by Barclays Private Clients.

The figures mean that London's economy on its own would make it the ninth largest country in Europe, with an economy bigger than those of Sweden, Poland, Norway, Austria or Denmark.

Dublin ranked 19th with a GDP of £25 billion while Glasgow came 39th in the table with a GDP of £12 billion.

Gordon Rankin, marketing director of Barclays Private Clients, said: "The wealth of countries has never before been so concentrated. London now represents almost a sixth of the GDP of the UK whilst only having an eighth of its population.

"Some cities such as London are already bigger than fairly large nation states, and it would seem their importance in terms of wealth generation can only grow."