Economy - overview:
Internally, the EU has abolished trade barriers, adopted a common currency, and is striving toward convergence of living standards. Internationally, the EU aims to bolster Europe's trade position and its political and economic power. Because of the great differences in per capita income among member states (from $7,000 to $78,000) and in national attitudes toward issues like inflation, debt, and foreign trade, the EU faces difficulties in devising and enforcing common policies. In the wake of the global economic crisis, the European Commission projected that the EU's economy would shrink by 4% in 2009 and 0.1% in 2010. The EU has recovered from the crisis faster than expected, however, and the Commission estimates 2010 growth at 1.8%. Significant risks to growth nevertheless remain, including, high official debts and deficits, aging populations, over-regulation of non-financial businesses, and doubts about the sustainability of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In June 2010, prompted by the Greek financial crisis, the EU and the IMF set up a $1 trillion bailout fund to rescue any EMU member in danger of default, but it has not calmed market jitters that have diminished the value of the euro. Eleven established EU member states introduced the euro as their common currency on 1 January 1999 (Greece did so two years later), but the UK and Denmark have 'opt-outs' that allow them to keep their national currencies, and Sweden has not taken the steps needed to participate. Between 2004 and 2007, the EU admitted 12 countries that are, in general, less advanced economically than the other 15. Of the 12 most recent member states, only Slovenia (1 January 2007), Cyprus and Malta (1 January 2008), Slovakia (1 January 2009), and Estonia (1 January 2011) have adopted the euro; the remaining states other than the UK and Denmark are legally required to adopt the currency upon meeting EU's fiscal and monetary convergence criteria.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Investment (gross fixed): Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Oil - proved reserves: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Imports: Imports - commodities: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: Exchange rates:
NOTE: The information regarding European Union on this page is re-published from the 2011 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of European Union Economy 2011 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about European Union Economy 2011 should be addressed to the CIA.
$14.89 trillion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 1
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP (purchasing power parity) country ranks ]
$15.9 trillion (2009 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
1.7% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 160
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$32,900 (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 42
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 1.8%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry:
25.2%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services:
72.9% (2009 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
225.2 million (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 5.6%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry:
27.7%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services:
66.7% (2007 est.)
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
9.5% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 104
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
note - see individual country entries of member states
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 2.9%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%:
25.6% (2002 est.)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
31 (2005 est.)
country comparison to the world: 106
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
18.6% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 103
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
1.7% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 46
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
1.75% (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 121
note:
this is the European Central Bank's rate on the marginal lending facility, which offers overnight credit to banks in the euro area
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
7.52% (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 110
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$5.542 trillion (31 December 2008)
note:
this is the quantity of money, M1, for the euro area, converted into US dollars at the exchange rate for the date indicated; it excludes the stock of money carried by non-euro-area members of the European Union
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$11.17 trillion (31 December 2008 est.)
note:
this is the quantity of quasi money, M2-M1, for the euro area, converted into US dollars at the exchange rate for the date indicated; it excludes the stock of quasi money carried by non-euro-area members of the European Union
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$22.65 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
note:
this figure refers to the euro area only; it excludes credit data for non-euro-area members of the EU
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$NA (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
wheat, barley, oilseeds, sugar beets, wine, grapes; dairy products, cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry; fish
among the world's largest and most technologically advanced, the EU industrial base includes: ferrous and non-ferrous metal production and processing, metal products, petroleum, coal, cement, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, rail transportation equipment, passenger and commercial vehicles, construction equipment, industrial equipment, shipbuilding, electrical power equipment, machine tools and automated manufacturing systems, electronics and telecommunications equipment, fishing, food and beverage processing, furniture, paper, textiles, tourism
3.8% (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 90
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
3.08 trillion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
2.906 trillion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
NA kWh
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
NA kWh
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
2.383 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 13
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
13.68 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
2.196 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 7
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
8.613 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
5.414 billion bbl (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 25
[see also: Oil - proved reserves country ranks ]
181.6 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 4
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
489.4 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
NA cu m
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
NA cu m
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
2.242 trillion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
$NA (2009)
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$1.952 trillion (2007)
country comparison to the world: 1
note:
external exports, excluding intra-EU trade
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
machinery, motor vehicles, aircraft, plastics, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, fuels, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, wood pulp and paper products, textiles, meat, dairy products, fish, alcoholic beverages.
$1.69 trillion (2007)
country comparison to the world: 2
note:
external imports, excluding intra-EU trade
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
machinery, vehicles, aircraft, plastics, crude oil, chemicals, textiles, metals, foodstuffs, clothing
$NA
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 2
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
$NA
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]
euros per US dollar - 0.7715 (2010), 0.7338 (2009), 0.6827 (2008), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006)
This page was last modified 09-Feb-11