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 weight. 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. Eleven established EU member states, under the auspices of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), introduced the euro as their common currency on 1 January 1999 (Greece did so two years later). Between 2004 and 2007, 12 states acceded to the EU that are, in general, less advanced economically than the other 15 member states. Of the 12 most recent entrants, only Slovenia (1 January 2007), Cyprus and Malta (1 January 2008), Slovakia (1 January 2009), and Estonia (1 January 2011) have adopted the euro; 10 non-Euro member states, other than the UK and Denmark which have formal opt-outs, are required by EU treaties to adopt the common currency upon meeting fiscal and monetary convergence criteria. Following the 2008-09 global economic crisis, the EU economy saw moderate GDP growth in 2010 and 2011, but a sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone intensified in 2011 and became the bloc's top economic and political priority. Despite EU/IMF adjustment programs in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, and consolidation measures in many other EU member states, significant risks to growth remain, including high public debtloads, aging populations, onerous regulations, and fears of debt crisis contagion. In response, euro-zone leaders moved in 2011 to boost funding levels for the temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to almost $600 billion, to make loan terms more favorable for crisis-hit countries, and to bring the permanent European Stabilization Mechanism (ESM) online in July 2012, a year earlier than originally planned. In addition, 25 of 27 EU member states (all except the UK and Czech Republic) have indicated their intent to enact a "fiscal compact" treaty to boost long-term budgetary discipline and coordination.
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: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: Exchange rates:
NOTE: 1) The information regarding European Union on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of European Union Economy 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about European Union Economy 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
$15.39 trillion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 1
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$17.72 trillion (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
1.6% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 165
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$34,000 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 38
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 1.8%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 25.1%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services: 73.1% (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
228.4 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 4.7%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 28.7%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services: 66.6% (2010 est.)
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
9.6% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 107
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
note - see individual country entries of member states
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 1.1%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: 26.9% (2010 est.)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
30.4 (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 116
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
18.6% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 142
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
2.9% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 48
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
1.75% (31 December 2011)
country comparison to the world: 126
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 ]
5.9% (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 131
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$5.542 trillion (31 December 2010)
country comparison to the world: 2
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 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 4
note: this is the quantity of broad money for the euro area, converted into US dollars at the exchange rate for the date indicated; it excludes the stock of broad money carried by non-euro-area members of the European Union
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$23.59 trillion (31 December 2011 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 ]
$10.5 trillion (31 December 2010 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
3.4% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 100
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
3.332 trillion kWh (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
2.887 trillion kWh (2008 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 ]
2.276 million bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 14
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
13.73 million bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
2.196 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 5
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
8.613 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
182.3 billion cu m (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
522.7 billion cu m (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
93.75 billion cu m
country comparison to the world: 4
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
420.6 billion cu m
country comparison to the world: 1
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
2.168 trillion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$32.72 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 189
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$1.791 trillion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
note: external exports, excluding intra-EU trade
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
machinery, motor vehicles, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, fuels, aircraft, plastics, iron and steel, wood pulp and paper products, alcoholic beverages, furniture
United States 17.5%, China 8.3%, Switzerland 7.7%, Russia 6.3%, Turkey 4.5% (2010)
$2 trillion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 2
note: external imports, excluding intra-EU trade
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
fuels and crude oil, machinery, vehicles, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, precious gemstones, textiles, aircraft, plastics, metals, ships
China 18.7%, United States 11%, Russia 9.7%, Switzerland 5.5%, Norway 4.4%, Japan 4.3%
$812.1 billion
note: this includes reserves held by the European Central Bank and euro-zone national central banks; it excludes reserves for non-euro-area members of the EU (31 October 2011)
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$16.08 trillion (30 June 2011)
country comparison to the world: 1
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
$NA
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]
euros per US dollar -
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 07-Mar-12