Booming house prices and low unemployment have combined to land Sussex a spot in Europe's Top 20 rich list.

East and West Sussex, together with Surrey, has been ranked as one of the wealthiest areas in the European Union, research published today shows.

The region comes 14th out of 200 areas across the Continent, topped in the UK only by London and the M4 belt of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Economic analysts Business Strategies measured wealth for each area by calculating how much each adult contributes to the national economy.

Despite its high placing, analysts believe Sussex will struggle to hold on as savings and jobs are hit by a slowing property market and the downturn in the technology and aerospace sectors.

While the other two UK regions in the top 20 are predicted to keep on growing, economists believe Sussex will be overtaken by up-coming areas where industry and public services are not hampered by the soaring cost of living.

The new figures do not take into account social factors which put Whitehawk in Brighton among the top one per cent of deprived areas in England in a survey last month.

Germany heads the list with Upper Bavaria, Hamburg and Darmstadt taking the top three slots.

Lisbon is the fastest growing area in the EU, followed by the Irish Republic and southern Sweden.

Business Strategies' research director Dr Neil Blake said: "This is the first consistent set of forecasts of this type produced to cover the EU."

He said the report highlighted a "belt of prosperity" which ran down the middle of the EU from Ireland to northern Italy.

He said either side of this belt, for example in Scandinavia and France, most regions were close to the EU average, but to the south and west of it prosperity was less evident.