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Economy of the European Union
Headquarters European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany
Currency 1 Euro (€) = 100 cents
Statistics
GDP ranking 1st (2013)
GDP (Nominal) US$18.495 trillion (2014)
€13.070 trillion (2013)
GDP (PPP) US$18.526 trillion (2014)
GDP growth rate 1,3% (2014)
GDP per capita US$34,300 (nominal) (2013)
US$36,699 (PPP) (2014)
GDP by sector (2006) 70.5% services
27.3% industry
  2.1% agriculture
Inflation 0.6% (2014)
Population below poverty threshold 17%
Labour force 240.2 million[1]
Labour force by occupation (2011) 69.8% services
25.2% industry
  5.0% agriculture
Unemployment 9.6% (May 2015)
Sources: [2] [3] [4] [5]

[6] [7]
Trading partners
Export of goods €1.737 trillion (2013)
$2.302 trillion (2013)
Export of services €657.4 billion (2013)
$880 billion (2013)

Export goods (2013)

machinery and transport equipment 40.7%; other manufactured goods 22.1%; chemicals and related products 15.7%; food, drinks and tobacco 6.0%; mineral fuels and lubricants 7.0%; raw materials 2.6%; commodities and transactions 5.8%

Main export partners (2013)

 United States 16.5%
  Switzerland 9.7%
 China 8.5%
 Russia 6.9%
 Turkey 4.5%
 Japan 3.1%
 Norway 2.9%
Import of goods €1.682 trillion (2013)
$2.235 trillion (2013)
Import of services €510.6 billion (2012)
$667.0 billion (2013)

Import goods (2013)

machinery and transport equipment 25.8%; other manufactured goods 22.7%; mineral fuels and lubricants 29.6%; chemicals and related products 9.4%; food, drinks and tobacco 5.6%; raw materials 4.5%; commodities and transactions 2.4%

Main import partners (2013)

 China 16.6%
 Russia 12.2%
 United States 11.6%
  Switzerland 5.6%
 Norway 5.3%
 Japan 3.64%
 Turkey 3.0%
FDI inward stock € 3.947 trillion (2012)
FDI outward stock € 5.206 trillion (2012)
Sources: [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Balance of Payments
Current account € 155.736 billion (2013)
Sources: [17]
Public finances
Government debt € 12,094 billion
(86.8% of GDP) (2014)
Deficit spending € -401.8 billion
(-2.9% of GDP) (2014)
Expenditure 48.1% of GDP (2014)
Revenue 45.2% of GDP (2014)
Sources: [18] [19] [20] [21]

The economy of the European Union generates a GDP (nominal) of about €14.303 trillion (US$18.451 trillion in 2014) and a GDP (PPP) of about €12.710 trillion (US$16.773 trillion in 2014) according to International Monetary Fund,[1] which makes it the largest or second largest economy in the world respectively if treated as the economy of a single country depending on a source used.

The European Union (EU) economy consists of an internal market and the EU is represented as a unified entity in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Currency[edit]

Main articles: Euro and Eurozone

Beginning in the year 1999 with some EU member states, now 19 out of 28 EU states use the euro as official currency in a currency union. The remaining 9 states continued to use their own currency with the possibility to join the euro later. The euro is also the most widely used currency in the EU.

Since 1992 the Maastricht treaty sets out rigid economic and fiscal convergence criteria for the states joining the euro. Starting 1997, the Stability and Growth Pact has been started to ensure continuing economic and fiscal stability and convergence.

Denmark and the United Kingdom, not members of the eurozone, have special opt-outs concerning the later joining of the euro. Also, Sweden can effectively opt out by choosing when or whether to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, which is the preliminary step towards joining. The remaining states are committed to join the euro through their Treaties of Accession.

Starting with Greece in 2009, five of the 19 eurozone states have been struggling with a sovereign debt crisis, by many called the European debt crisis. All these states started reforms and got bailout packages (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Cyprus). As of May 2015, all countries but Greece have recovered from their debt crisis. Other non-eurozone states also experienced a debt crisis and also went through successful bailout programmes, i.e. Hungary, Romania and Latvia (the latter before it joined the eurozone).[2]

Budget[edit]

Further information: Budget of the European Union

The operation of the EU has an agreed budget of €141 billion for the year 2011, and €862 billion for the period 2007–2013,[3] this represents around 1% of the EU's GDP.

Economic variation[edit]

GDP-based treemap over the EU countries

Below is a table showing, respectively, the GDP and the GDP (PPP) per capita for the European Union and for each of its member states, sorted by GDP (PPP). This can be used as a rough gauge to the relative standards of living among member states, with Luxembourg the highest and Bulgaria the lowest. Eurostat, based in Luxembourg, is the Official Statistical Office of the European Communities releasing yearly GDP figures for the member states as well as the EU as a whole, which are regularly updated, supporting this way a measure of wealth and a base for the European Union's budgetary and economic policies. Figures are stated in euros.

Member states GDP 2014
millions of
euro		 Population
in millions[4]
 GDP (PPP)
per capita 2014
euro		 GDP (Nominal)
per capita 2014
euro		 GDP (PPP)
per capita 2014
EU28 = 100
Eurozone
yes/no
 European Union 13,920,541 507.4 27,400 27,400 100%
 Germany 2,903,790 80.8 34,000 35,400 124% yes
 United Kingdom 2,222,361 64.3 29,600 34,500 108% no
 France 2,132,449 65.9 29,400 32,200 107% yes
 Italy 1,616,048 60.8 26,500 26,600 97% yes
 Spain 1,058,469 46.5 25,500 22,800 93% yes
 Netherlands 653,476 16.8 36,000 39,300 130% yes
 Sweden 430,258 9.6 34,100 44,400 124% no
 Poland 413,133 38.5 18,600 10,700 68% no
 Belgium 402,027 11.2 32,500 36,000 119% yes
 Austria 328,886 8.5 34,900 38,500 128% yes
 Denmark 256,938 5.6 33,900 45,700 124% no
 Finland 204,015 5.5 30,200 37,600 110% yes
 Ireland 185,412 4.6 36,100 40,200 132% yes
 Greece 179,081 11.0 19,600 16,300 72% yes
 Portugal 174,384 10.4 21,400 16,600 78% yes
 Czech Republic 154,939 10.5 22,900 14,700 84% no
 Romania 150,665 19.9 14,600 7,500 54% no
 Hungary 103,303 9.9 18,500 10,500 68% no
 Slovakia 75,215 5.4 20,800 13,900 76% yes
 Luxembourg 49,428 0.5 74,300 88,500 263% yes
 Croatia 43,085 4.2 16,100 10,200 59% no
 Bulgaria 42,011 7.2 12,300 5,800 45% no
 Slovenia 37,246 2.1 22,600 18,100 83% yes
 Lithuania 36,288 2.9 20,100 12,400 74% yes
 Latvia 24,058 2.0 17,600 12,100 64% yes
 Estonia 19,526 1.3 19,900 14,800 73% yes
 Cyprus 17,506 0.9 23,400 20,500 85% yes
 Malta 7,962 0.4 23,200 18,600 85% yes
EU candidates GDP 2013
millions of
euro		 Population
in millions
 GDP (PPP)
per capita 2013
euro		 GDP (Nominal)
per capita 2013
euro		 GDP (PPP)
per capita 2014
perc. of EU28
Eurozone
yes/no
 Turkey 617,794 76.7 9,500 7,500(2011) 53% no
 Serbia 33,059(2014) 7.1 9,800 4,800 35% no
 Iceland 12,854(2014) 0.3 33,000(2014) 39,500(2014) 121% no
 Albania 8,975[5] 2.9 7,800 2,803 29% no
 Macedonia 8,123 2.1 9,500 3,900 36% no
 Montenegro 3,149(2012) 0.6 39% no
EFTA members GDP 2014
millions of
euro		 Population
in millions
 GDP (PPP)
per capita 2014
euro		 GDP (Nominal)
per capita 2014
euro		 GDP (PPP)
per capita 2014
perc. of EU28
Eurozone
yes/no
  Switzerland 516,068(2013) 8.1 43,000(2013) 63,800(2013) 161% no
 Norway 377,224 5.1 49,000 73,400 179% no

p: provisional value
e: estimated value
Source: GDP Millions:EUROSTAT,[6] GDP(nominal) per inhabitant: EUROSTAT,[6] GDP per capita in PPS :EUROSTAT,[7] GDP per capita expressed in PPS in percentage of EU (2013): EUROSTAT[8]

Economies of member states[edit]

GDP per capita in 2012

Economic performance varies from state to state. The Growth and Stability Pact governs fiscal policy with the European Union. It applies to all member states, with specific rules which apply to the eurozone members that stipulate that each state's deficit must not exceed 3% of GDP and its public debt must not exceed 60% of GDP. Many larger members have consistently run deficits substantially in excess of 3%, and the eurozone as a whole has a debt percentage exceeding 60% (see below).

The following table shows information relating to the member states of the European Union, ordered according to the 'Size' of their economies. (NB: Were the table ordered according to 'GDP per capita' this would perhaps better reflect the strength of an individual economy. But this is not how such tables are commonly structured.) The colours denote how a member state is performing relative to the rest of the European Union, above average (green) or below average (red). The smallest and greatest values in each column are emphasised.

The data for GDP and GDP per capita (PPP) are based on the World Economic Outlook, October 2014 (International Monetary Fund).[9]

Member state
sorted by GDP		 GDP
in billions
of USD
(2014)[9]		 GDP
% of EU
(2014)		 Annual
change
 % of GDP
(2014)		 GDP
per capita
in PPP US$
(2014)		 Public debt[10]
% of GDP
(2014)		 Deficit (-)/
Surplus (+)[11]
% of GDP
(2014)		 Inflation
% Annual[12]
(2014)		 Unemp.[13]
%
2015 M08
 European Union[14] 18,495.3 100.0 1.3 36,699 86.8 −2.9 0.6 9.5
 Germany 3,859.5(e) 21.0% 1.6 45,888(e) 74.7 0.7 0.8 4.5
 United Kingdom 2,945.1 16.0% 2.6 39,511 89.4 −5.7 1.5 5.5(M6)
 France 2,846.9 15.5% 0.4 40,375 95.0 −4.0 0.6 10.8
 Italy 2,148.0 11.7% −0.4 35,486 132.1 −3.0 0.2 11.9
 Spain 1,406.9 7.6% 1.4 33,711 97.7 -5.8 -0.2 22.2
 Netherlands 866.5 4.7% 0.8 47,354 68.8 −2.3 0.3 6.8
 Sweden 570.1 3.1% 2.1 45,986 43.9 −1.9 0.2 7.0
 Poland 546.6(e) 3.0% 3.3 25,105 50.1 −3.2 0.1 7.2
 Belgium 534.7 2.9% 1.0 42,973 106.5 −3.2 0.5 8.8
 Austria 437.1(e) 2.4% 0.3 46,420(e) 84.5 −2.4 1.5 5.7
 Denmark 340.8(e) 1.9% 1.0 44,343(e) 45.2 1.2 0.3 6.3
 Finland 271.2 1.5% −0.1 40,347(e) 59.3 −3.2 1.2 9.7
 Ireland 246.4 1.3% 4.8 49,195 109.7 -4.1 0.3 9.5
 Greece 238.0 1.3% 0.8 25,859 177.1 −3.5 -1.4 25.2(M6)
 Portugal 230.0 1.3% 0.9 26,975 130.2 −4.5 -0.2 12.4
 Czech Republic 205.7 1.1% 2.0 29,925(e) 42.6 −2.0 0.4 5.0
 Romania 200.0 1.1% 2.9 19,712 39.8 −1.5 1.4 6.8
 Hungary 137.1(e) 0.7% 3.6 24,942(e) 76.9 −2.6 0.0 6.8(M7)
 Slovakia 100.0 0.5% 2.4 28,175(e) 53.6 −2.9 -0.1 11.1
 Luxembourg 62.4(e) 0.3% 2.8 92,049(e) 23.6 0.6 0.7 5.9
 Croatia 57.2 0.3% -0.4 20,889(e) 85.0 −5.7 0.2 15.5
 Bulgaria 55.8 0.3% 1.7 17,860 27.6 −2.8 -1.6 9.7
 Slovenia 49.5 0.3% 2.6 29,658 80.9 −4.9 0.4 9.4
 Lithuania 48.2(e) 0.3% 2.9 27,051(e) 40.9 -0.7 1.2 9.6
 Latvia 32.0(e) 0.2% 2.4 23,706(e) 40.0 −1.4 0.7 9.9
 Estonia 26.0(e) 0.1% 2.1 26,999(e) 10.6 0.6 0.5 5.7 (M7)
 Cyprus 23.7 0.1% −2.3 30,769 107.5 −8.8 -0.3 15.3
 Malta 10.6(e) 0.06% 3.5 33,216(e) 68.0 −2.1 0.8 5.1

Economic growth[edit]

Population and GDP per capita of EU member states and some candidates
Economic growth (growth of real GDP).

The EU's share of gross world product (GWP) is stable at around one fifth.[15]

The twelve new member states of the European Union have enjoyed a higher average percentage growth rate than their elder members of the EU. Slovakia has the highest GDP growth in the period 2005–2011 among all countries of the European Union (See Tatra Tiger). Notably the Baltic states have achieved high GDP growth, with Latvia topping 11%, close to China, the world leader at 9% on average for the past 25 years (though these gains have been in great part cancelled by the late-2000s recession).

Reasons for this growth include government commitments to stable monetary policy, export-oriented trade policies, low flat-tax rates and the utilisation of relatively cheap labour. For the last year (2011), Estonia had the highest GDP growth of all the states in EU (7.6%). The current map of EU growth is one of huge regional variation, with the larger economies suffering from stagnant growth and the new nations enjoying sustained, robust economic growth.

Although EU27 GDP is on the increase, the percentage of gross world product is decreasing because of the emergence of economic powers such as China, India and Brazil.

EU member states GDP growth rates[16]
Member state 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2005 – 2014[17]
 Austria 2.1 3.4 3.6 1.5 -3.8 1.9 2.8 0.8 0.3 0.4 13.8
 Belgium 1.9 2.6 3.0 1.0 -2.6 2.5 1.6 0.1 0.3 1.1 11.9
 Bulgaria 6.0 6.5 6.9 5.8 -5.0 0.7 2.0 0.5 1.1 1.7 28.7
 Croatia 4.2 4.8 5.2 2.1 -7.4 -1.7 -0.3 -2.2 -0.9 -0.4 2.8
 Cyprus 3.9 4.5 4.9 3.6 -2.0 1.4 0.3 -2.4 −5.4 −2.3 6.1
 Czech_Republic 6.4 6.9 5.5 2.7 -4.8 2.3 2.0 -0.9 -0.5 2.0 23.0
 Denmark 2.4 3.8 0.8 -0.7 -5.1 1.6 1.2 -0.7 -0.5 1.1 3.6
 Estonia 9.5 10.4 7.9 −5.3 −14.7 2.5 8.3 4.7 1.6 2.1 27.0
 Finland 2.8 4.1 5.2 0.7 -8.3 3.0 2.6 -1.4 -1.1 -0.4 6.8
 France 1.6 2.4 2.4 0.2 -2.9 2.0 2.1 0.2 0.7 0.2 9.0
 Germany 0.7 3.7 3.3 1.1 -5.6 4.1 3.7 0.4 0.3 1.6 13.4
 Greece 0.9 5.8 3.5 -0.4 -4.4 −5.4 −8.9 −6.6 −3.9 0.8 -18.0
 Hungary 4.3 4.0 0.5 0.9 -6.6 0.8 1.8 -1.5 1.5 3.6 9.2
 Ireland 5.7 5.5 4.9 -2.6 -6.4 -0.3 2.8 -0.3 0.2 4.8 14.4
 Italy 0.9 2.0 1.5 -1.0 -5.5 1.7 0.6 -2.3 -1.9 -0.4 -4.6
 Latvia 10.2 11.6 9.8 −3.2 −14.2 −2.9 5.0 4.8 4.2 2.4 27.9
 Lithuania 7.8 7.4 11.1 2.6 −14.8 1.6 6.1 3.8 3.3 2.9 33.7
 Luxembourg 4.1 4.9 6.5 0.5 -5.3 5.1 2.6 -0.2 2.0 2.8 24.9
 Malta 3.8 1.8 4.0 3.3 -2.5 3.5 2.1 2.5 2.6 3.5 27.3
 Netherlands 2.3 3.8 4.2 2.1 -3.3 1.1 1.7 -1.1 -0.5 1.0 10.6
 Poland 3.5 6.2 7.2 3.9 2.6 3.7 4.8 1.8 1.7 3.4 46.0
 Portugal 0.8 1.6 2.5 0.2 -3.0 1.9 -1.8 -4.0 -1.6 0.9 -1.8
 Romania 4.2 8.1 6.9 8.5 -7.1 -0.8 1.1 0.6 3.4 2.8 30.3
 Slovakia 6.5 8.3 10.7 5.4 -5.3 4.8 2.7 1.6 1.4 2.4 44.7
 Slovenia 4.0 5.7 6.9 3.3 -7.8 1.2 0.6 -2.7 -1.1 3.0 12.7
 Spain 3.7 4.2 3.8 1.1 -3.6 0.0 -0.6 -2.1 -1.2 1.4 6.6
 Sweden 2.8 4.7 3.4 -0.6 -5.2 6.0 2.7 -0.3 1.3 2.3 17.7
 United_Kingdom 2.8 3.0 2.6 -0.3 -4.3 1.9 1.6 0.7 1.7 3.0 12.8
 European_Union 2.0 3.4 3.1 0.5 -4.4 2.1 1.7 -0.5 0.2 1.4 9.5
Eurozone 1.7 3.2 3.0 0.5 -4.5 2.0 1.6 -0.8 -0.3 0.9 7.2

Energy resources[edit]

Main article: Energy policy of the European Union

The European Union has uranium, coal, oil, and natural gas reserves. There are six oil producers in the European Union, primarily in North Sea oilfields. The United Kingdom is by far the largest producer; Denmark, Germany, Italy, Romania and the Netherlands all produce oil. If it is treated as a single unit, which is not conventional in the oil markets, the European Union is the 19th largest producer of oil in the world, producing 1,241,370 (2013) barrels a day.

It is the world's second largest consumer of oil, consuming much more than it can produce, at 12,790,000 (2013) barrels a day. Much of the difference comes from Russia and the Caspian Sea basin. All countries in the EU have committed to the Kyoto Protocol, and the European Union is one of its biggest proponents. The European Commission published proposals for the first comprehensive EU energy policy on 10 January 2007.

see also: Renewable energy in the European Union and Category:Energy in the European Union

Trade[edit]

Further information: List of the largest trading partners of the European Union
  EU
  Top 10 trading partners (2010)
  Top 11–20 trading partners (2010)
EU imports, exports and balance of trade in goods from 2007 to 2013 (in billions of euro)
EU current account(quarterly data ) in millions of euro.

The European Union is the largest exporter in the world[18] and as of 2008 the largest importer of goods and services.[19] Internal trade between the member states is aided by the removal of barriers to trade such as tariffs and border controls. In the eurozone, trade is helped by not having any currency differences to deal with amongst most members.[20]

The European Union Association Agreement does something similar for a much larger range of countries, partly as a so-called soft approach ('a carrot instead of a stick') to influence the politics in those countries. The European Union represents all its members at the World Trade Organization (WTO), and acts on behalf of member states in any disputes. When the EU negotiates trade related agreement outside the WTO framework, the subsequent agreement must be approved by each individual EU member.[20]

Main trading partners(2014)[21]
Rank Partners Imports (million euro) % (of total) Exports (million euro) % (of total) Total trade (million euro) % (of total)
- Total EU 1,680,233 100% 1,702,736 100% 3,382,959 100%
1  United States 204,802 12,2% 310,766 18,3% 515,568 15,2%
2  China 302,579 18,0% 164,730 9,7% 467,309 13,8%
3  Russia 181,844 10,8% 103,296 6,1% 285,140 8,4%
4   Switzerland 96,553 5,7% 140,349 8,1% 236,902 7,0%
5  Norway 83,935 5,0% 50,181 2,9% 134,116 4,0%
6  Turkey 54,263 3,2% 74,638 4,4% 128,901 3,8%
7  Japan 54,551 3,2% 53,301 3,1% 107,852 3,2%
8  South Korea 38,992 2,3% 43,133 2,5% 82,125 2,4%
9  India 37,066 2,2% 35,454 2,1% 72,520 2,1%
10  Brazil 31,157 1,9% 36,927 2,2% 68,083 2,0%
11  Saudi Arabia 28,768 1,7% 35,121 2,1% 63,889 1,9%
12  Canada 27,361 1,6% 31,670 1,9% 59,031 1,7%
13  Algeria 31,832 1,9% 22,387 1,3% 54,219 1,6%
14  United Arab Emirates 8,125 0,5% 42,769 2,5% 50,894 1,5%
15  Mexico 18,222 1,1% 28,476 1,7% 46,698 1,4%
16  Hong Kong 10,629 0,6% 34,686 2,0% 45,315 1,3%
17  Singapore 16,576 1,0% 28,246 1,7% 44,822 1,3%
18  South Africa 18,439 1,1% 23,340 1,4% 41,780 1,2%
19  Taiwan 23,184 1,4% 16,960 1,0% 40,144 1,2%
20  Nigeria 28,166 1,7% 11,552 0,7% 39,717 1,2%
21  Australia 9,101 0,5% 29,576 1,7% 38,676 1,1%
22  Malaysia 19,710 1,2% 13,978 0,8% 33,688 1,0%
23  Thailand 18,533 1,1% 12,444 0,7% 30,978 0,9%
24  Ukraine 13,761 0,8% 17,143 1,0% 30,903 0,9%
25  Kazakhstan 23,900 1,4% 6,754 0,4% 30,654 0,9%
26  Israel 13,071 0,8% 16,982 1,0% 30,053 0,9%
27  Morocco 11,012 0,7% 18,224 1,1% 29,236 0,9%
28  Vietnam 22,071 1,3% 6,181 0,4% 28,252 0,8%
29  Egypt 8,567 0,5% 16,950 1,0% 25,518 0,8%
30  Indonesia 14,395 0,9% 9,490 0,6% 23,885 0,7%
31  Tunisia 9,354 0,6% 10,987 0,6% 20,341 0,6%
32  Libya 12,478 0,7% 5,316 0,3% 17,794 0,5%
33  Serbia 7,110 0,4% 10,373 0,6% 17,483 0,5%
34  Azerbaijan 13,159 0,8% 3,482 0,2% 16,641 0,5%
35  Iraq 11,629 0,7% 4,679 0,3% 16,307 0,5%
36  Angola 9,381 0,6% 6,738 0,4% 16,119 0,5%
37  Chile 8,730 0,5% 7,388 0,4% 16,117 0,5%
38  Argentina 7,710 0,5% 8,266 0,5% 15,976 0,5%
39  Qatar 7,488 0,4% 8,400 0,5% 15,887 0,5%
40  Colombia 8,121 0,5% 6,351 0,4% 14,471 0,4%
41  Bangladesh 12,310 0,7% 2,017 0,1% 14,327 0,4%
42  Philippines 5,673 0,3% 6,800 0,4% 12,473 0,4%
43  Belarus 3,429 0,2% 7,464 0,4% 10,893 0,3%
44  Kuwait 5,459 0,3% 5,084 0,3% 10,543 0,3%
45  Pakistan 5,502 0,3% 4,085 0,2% 9,587 0,3%
46  Bosnia-Herzegovina 3,331 0,2% 5,026 0,3% 8,357 0,2%
47  Peru 4,936 0,3% 3,236 0,2% 8,172 0,2%
48  Gibraltar 1,168 0,1% 6,974 0,4% 8,142 0,2%
49  New Zealand 3,381 0,2% 4,494 0,3% 7,875 0,2%
50  Iran 1,162 0,1% 6,418 0,4% 7,580 0,2%
Trade with partner country groupings(2012)[21]
Rank Partner region Imports (million euro) % (of total) Exports (million euro) % (of total) Total trade (million euro) % (of total)
- Total EU 1,791,727 100% 1,686,774 100% 3,478,501 100%
- ACP 99,196 5,5% 86,652 5,1% 185,848 5,3%
- Andean Community 17,728 1,0% 11,738 0,7% 29,467 0,8%
- ASEAN 100,035 5,6% 81,324 4,8% 181,360 5,2%
- BRIC 577,513 32,2% 345,198 20,5% 922,711 26,5%
- CACM 9,546 0,5% 5,354 0,3% 14,900 0,4%
- EU Candidate Countries 55,386 3,1% 89,654 5,3% 145,040 4,2%
- CIS 273,505 15,3% 172,641 10,2% 446,1460 12,8%
- EFTA 208,739 11,7% 186,222 11,0% 394,961 11,4%
- Latin America Countries 109,978 6,1% 110,297 6,5% 220,275 6,3%
- MEDA(Excl. EU and Turkey) 73,341 4,1% 92,812 5,5% 166,153 4,8%
- Mercosur 49,196 2,7% 50,266 3,0% 99,461 2,9%
- NAFTA 255,657 14,3% 351,090 20,8% 606,746 17,4%

Unemployment[edit]

Unemployment rate by country in the EU in May 2015.
Unemployment rates in selected European countries and in the EU28 between 01/2004 and 04/2014.

The euro area seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 12.1% in November 2013, stable since April. The EU unemployment rate was 10.9%, stable since May. In both zones, the rates increased compared with November 2012, when they were 11.8% and 10.8% respectively. Among the member states, the lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4.8%), Germany (5.2%) and Luxembourg (6.1%), and the highest in Greece (27.4% in September 2013) and Spain (26.7%).[23]

The following table shows the history of the unemployment rate for all European Union member states:

Unemployment[24] 2005-03 2006-03 2007-03 2008-03 2009-03 2010-03 2011-03 2012-03 2013-03 2014-03 2015-03
 Austria 5.0 5.2 4.4 3.7 4.6 4.6 4.2 4.2 4.9 4.9 5.6
 Belgium 8.4 8.7 7.8 6.9 7.9 8.3 7.0 7.3 8.3 8.5 8.7
 Denmark 5.2 4.2 3.7 3.2 5.3 7.6 7.4 7.7 7.1 6.6 6.3
 Finland 8.5 7.9 7.0 6.2 7.6 8.6 7.9 7.5 8.1 8.4 9.3
 France 8.7 9.1 8.4 7.1 8.9 9.3 9.1 9.6 10.3 10.4 10.3
 Germany 11.4 10.5 9.0 7.8 7.7 7.4 6.2 5.5 5.4 5.2 4.8
 Greece 10.1 9.3 8.9 8.2 9.2 11.7 16.1 22.6 27.2 26.8 25.6
 Ireland 4.3 4.5 4.7 5.2 11.2 13.3 14.3 15.0 13.7 12.0 9.8
 Italy 7.8 7.1 5.9 6.4 7.6 8.4 7.9 10.4 12.0 12.6 12.6
 Luxembourg 4.6 4.7 4.3 4.4 5.4 4.6 4.7 5.0 5.7 6.1 5.8
 Netherlands 5.5 4.6 3.8 3.0 3.2 4.5 4.2 5.0 6.4 7.2 7.0
 Portugal 8.3 8.3 9.1 8.2 10.0 11.7 12.3 14.9 17.3 14.8 13.2
 Spain 9.7 8.6 8.0 9.3 17.2 19.4 20.6 23.9 26.3 25.2 22.9
 Sweden 7.3 7.4 6.5 5.8 7.8 8.8 7.9 7.5 8.3 8.0 7.6
 United Kingdom 4.6 5.3 5.5 5.2 7.3 7.9 7.7 8.1 7.7 6.6 5.4
 Bulgaria 10.6 9.1 7.3 5.9 6.0 9.8 11.1 12.0 12.9 13.0 9.9
 Croatia 13.2 12.3 10.5 9.1 8.9 10.8 13.7 15.4 16.4 17.4 16.7
 Cyprus 5.4 5.0 3.9 3.9 4.6 6.8 7.0 10.7 14.7 16.9 16.3
 Czech Republic 8.0 7.7 5.7 4.3 5.9 7.8 6.9 7.0 7.3 6.6 5.9
 Estonia 8.6 6.3 5.1 4.3 11.4 18.5 13.1 10.6 8.8 7.7 6.2
 Hungary 6.9 7.3 7.3 7.5 9.5 11.4 11.0 11.2 10.6 7.8 7.3
 Latvia 11.1 8.1 6.5 6.2 13.7 20.8 17.2 15.7 12.7 11.5 9.9
 Lithuania 9.7 6.2 4.1 4.1 11.6 17.7 16.5 13.8 12.4 11.9 9.0
 Malta 7.2 7.1 6.9 5.9 6.5 7.0 6.4 6.4 6.2 6.9 5.8
 Poland 18.4 15.3 10.3 7.2 7.6 9.9 9.5 9.9 10.6 9.8 7.9
 Romania 7.8 7.1 6.6 5.8 6.5 7.6 7.1 7.2 7.2 7.2 6.8
 Slovakia 17.0 14.3 11.2 10.1 10.7 14.9 13.6 13.8 14.2 14.0 12.0
 Slovenia 6.4 6.2 5.1 4.6 5.3 7.0 8.0 7.9 10.7 9.6 9.3
 European Union 9.2 8.5 7.4 6.7 8.6 9.7 9.4 10.2 10.9 10.5 9.7

Industries[edit]

The services sector is by far the most important sector in the European Union, making up 69.4% of GDP, compared to the manufacturing industry with 28.4% of GDP and agriculture with only 2.3% of GDP.

Agriculture[edit]

The agricultural sector is supported by subsidies from the European Union in the form of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In 2013 this represented approximately €45billion (less than 33% of the overall budget of €148billion) of the EU's total spending.[25] It was used originally to guarantee a minimum price for farmers in the EU. This is criticised as a form of protectionism, inhibiting trade, and damaging developing countries; one of the most vocal opponents is the UK, the second largest economy within the bloc, which has repeatedly refused to give up the annual UK rebate unless the CAP undergoes significant reform; France, the biggest beneficiary of the CAP and the bloc's third largest economy, is its most vocal proponent. The CAP is however witnessing substantial reform. In 1985, around 70% of the EU budget was spent on agriculture. In 2011, direct aid to farmers and market-related expenditure amount to just 30% of the budget, and rural development spending to 11%. By 2011, 90% of direct support had become non-trade-distorting (not linked to production) as reforms have continued to be made to the CAP, its funding and its design.[26]

Tourism[edit]

The European Union is a major tourist destination, attracting visitors from outside of the Union and citizens travelling inside it. Internal tourism is made more convenient by the Schengen treaty and the euro. All citizens of the European Union are entitled to travel to any member state without the need of a visa.

France is the world's number one tourist destination for international visitors, followed by Spain, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is worth noting, however, that a significant proportion of international visitors to EU countries are from other member states.

London, the capital of the United Kingdom is also the world's most visited city and the highest in tourism receipts, before Paris.[27]

Companies[edit]

The European Union's member states are the birthplace of many of the world's largest leading multinational companies, and home to its global headquarters. Among these are distinguished companies ranked first in the world within their industry/sector, like Allianz, which is the largest financial service provider in the world by revenue; WPP plc which is the world's largest advertising agency by revenue; Airbus, which is the world's largest aircraft manufacturer;[28] Air France-KLM, which is the largest airline company in the world in terms of total operating revenues; Amorim, which is the world's largest cork-processing and cork producer company; ArcelorMittal, which is the largest steel company in the world; Inditex which is the biggest fashion group in the world; Groupe Danone, which has the world leadership in the dairy products market.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is the largest beer company in the world; L'Oréal Group, which is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company; LVMH, which is the world's largest luxury goods conglomerate; Nokia Corporation, which is the world's largest manufacturer of mobile telephones; Royal Dutch Shell, which is one of the largest energy corporations in the world; and Stora Enso, which is the world's largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of production capacity, in terms of banking and finance the EU has some of the worlds largest notably HSBC and Grupo Santander, the largest bank in Europe in terms of Market Capitalisation.

Many other European companies rank among the world's largest companies in terms of turnover, profit, market share, number of employees or other major indicators. A considerable number of EU-based companies are ranked among the worlds' top-ten within their sector of activity. Europe is also home to many prestigious car companies such as Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar Land Rover, Volkswagen, BMW group as well as volume manufacturers such as Fiat, PSA group and Renault.

Regional variation[edit]

Comparing the richest areas of the EU can be a difficult task. This is because the NUTS 1 & 2 regions are not homogenous, some of them being very large regions, such as NUTS-1 Hesse (21,100 km²) or NUTS-1 Île-de-France (12,011 km²), whilst other NUTS regions are much smaller, for example NUTS-1 Hamburg (755 km²) or NUTS-1 Greater London (1,580 km²). An extreme example is Finland, which is divided for historical reasons into mainland Finland with 5.3 million inhabitants and Åland, an autonomous archipelago with a population of 27,000, or about the population of a small Finnish city.

One problem with this data is that some areas, including Greater London, are subject to a large number of commuters coming into the area, thereby artificially inflating the figures. It has the effect of raising GDP but not altering the number of people living in the area, inflating the GDP per capita figure. Similar problems can be produced by a large number of tourists visiting the area. The data is used to define regions that are supported with financial aid in programs such as the European Regional Development Fund. The decision to delineate a Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) region is to a large extent arbitrary (i.e. not based on objective and uniform criteria across Europe), and is decided at European level (See also: Regions of the European Union).

Top 10: economically strongest NUTS-1 and NUTS-2 regions[edit]

See also: List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita, List of metropolitan areas in the European Union by GDP and First-level NUTS of the European Union

The 10 NUTS-1 and NUTS-2 regions with the highest GDP per capita are almost all, except two, in the first fifteen-member states: Prague and Bratislava are the only ones in the 12 new member states that joined in May 2004 and January 2007.[29] The leading regions in the ranking of NUTS-2 regional GDP per inhabitant in 2013 were Inner London in the United Kingdom (325% of the average), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (258%) and Bruxelles/Brussels in Belgium (207%). Figures for these three regions, however, are artificially inflated by the commuters who do not reside in these regions ("Net commuter inflows in these regions push up production to a level that could not be achieved by the resident active population on its own. The result is that GDP per inhabitant appears to be overestimated in these regions and underestimated in regions with commuter outflows."[30]).

Another example of artificial inflation is Groningen. The calculated GDP per capita is very high because of the large natural gas reserves in this region, but Groningen is one of the poorest parts in the Netherlands. Among the 46 NUTS-2 regions exceeding the 125% level, fourteen were in Germany, five in the Netherlands and in Austria, four each in Belgium and Italy, three in the United Kingdom, two in Finland and one in Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, France, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden, as well as in the single region Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The NUTS Regulation lays down a minimum population size of 3 million and a maximum size of 7 million for the average NUTS-1 region, whereas a minimum of 800,000 and a maximum of 3 million for NUTS-2 regions ¹ [22]. This definition, however, is not respected by Eurostat. E.g.: the région of Île-de-France, with 11.6 million inhabitants, is treated as a NUTS-2 region, while the state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, with only 664,000 inhabitants, is treated as a NUTS-1 region.

Source: Eurostat[30]

Economically weakest NUTS-2 regions[edit]

Among the ten lowest regions in the ranking in 2014 most were in Bulgaria and Romania, with the lowest figure recorded in Mayotte in France. Among the 75 regions below the 75% level, fourteen were in Poland, eleven in Greece, seven each in Italy and Romania, six each in Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Hungary, five in Portugal, four in France, three each in Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom, two in Croatia, one in Slovenia as well as the member states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.[30]

Source: Eurostat[30]

Richest and poorest NUTS regions (GDP PPP 2013)[edit]

Source: Eurostat[30]

See also[edit]

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References[edit]

  1. ^ "World Economic Outlook". International Monetary Fund. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved August 27, 2014. 
  2. ^ "Romania becomes third eastern European EU country to be bailed out". The Guardian. 25 March 2009. 
  3. ^ "EU budget at a glance". Europa, EU information website. Retrieved 6 November 2007. 
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  5. ^ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". Imf.org. 2006-09-14. Retrieved 2014-05-20. 
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  7. ^ "Eurostat – Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table". Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
  8. ^ "GDP per capita in PPS". 1 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015. 
  9. ^ a b "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". International Monetary Fund. April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015. 
  10. ^ "General government gross debt - annual data". Eurostat. Retrieved 23 June 2014. 
  11. ^ "Government deficit, excluding support for financial institutions". Eurostat. Retrieved 24 May 2015. 
  12. ^ "Annual Inflation". 
  13. ^ "Unemployment in the EU". 
  14. ^ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". Imf.org. 2006-09-14. Retrieved 2015-08-01. 
  15. ^ "2020_REPORT" (PDF). Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
  16. ^ "Eurostat – Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table". Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
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  18. ^ "Central Intelligence Agency". Cia.gov. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
  19. ^ "World trade report 2009" (PDF). WTO information website. 
  20. ^ a b Se-jeong, Kim (19 July 2009). "EU-Korea FTA Will Be a Long Process: Greek Ambassador". The Korea Times. Retrieved 15 August 2009. 
  21. ^ a b http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_122530.pdf
  22. ^ "Extra-EU27 trade, by main partners, total product". Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2014-05-20. 
  23. ^ http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/3-08012014-BP/EN/3-08012014-BP-EN.PDF
  24. ^ "Eurostat - Data Explorer". europa.eu. 
  25. ^ "EU expenditure and revenue". Financial Programming and Budget. European Commission. Retrieved 15 September 2014. 
  26. ^ "EU budget myths". EC Europa. European Commission. Retrieved 15 September 2014. 
  27. ^ http://newsroom.mastercard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MasterCard_Global_Destination_Cities_Index_2012.pdf
  28. ^ "Airbus beats Boeing in 2010". News.ninemsn.com.au. Retrieved 26 April 2011. 
  29. ^ Eurostat (27 February 2014). "GDP per capita in the EU in 2011: seven capital regions among the ten most prosperous" (PDF). Europa web portal. Retrieved 28 February 2014. 
  30. ^ a b c d e Eurostat (21 May 2105). "GDP per capita in the EU in 2013: sevencapital regions amongthe ten most prosperous" (PDF). Europa web portal. Retrieved 22 May 2015.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • ^ Cells shaded in green indicate forecast figure
  • ^ One region may be classified by Eurostat as a NUTS-1, NUTS-2 as well as a NUTS-3 region. Several NUTS-1 regions are also classified as NUTS-2 regions such as Brussels-Capital or Ile-de-France. Many countries are only classified as a single NUTS-1 and a single NUTS-2 region such as Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg and (although over 3 million inhabitants) Denmark.
  • "Euro-indicators News release" (PDF). June 2005 inflation data. Retrieved 18 July 2005. 
  • "Euro-indicators News release" (PDF). May 2005 unemployment data. Retrieved 18 July 2005. 
  • "World Bank". GNI data (July 2005). Retrieved 4 August 2005. 

The following links are used for the GDP growth and GDP totals (IMF):

External links[edit]
source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151029202940/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_European_Union

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