A number on its own rarely tells you whether a country is doing well. These widely used reference points give the figures meaning.
Fiscal: the Maastricht limits
Deficit under 3% of GDP. Above this, a government is borrowing heavily relative to the economy.
Debt under 60% of GDP. Many EU states sit well above this; the level at which debt becomes a worry depends on growth and borrowing costs.
Prices: the ECB target
The ECB aims for inflation of 2% over the medium term. Persistently above 2% erodes the purchasing power of savings and wages; well below can signal a weak economy.
Labour
There is no official line for unemployment, but rates in the low single digits are generally considered healthy, while double digits indicate slack and hardship.
On the rankings, treat these thresholds as a traffic light: comfortably inside the limit is reassuring, near it is worth watching, beyond it is a strain.