| Economy | European Union |
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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 historic national animosities, 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 will shrink by 4% in 2009. In September 2009, the Commission reported that the EU was recovering from the crisis faster than it had projected, however, significant risks to sustainable growth remain, including, deteriorating fiscal positions, rising unemployment, tight bank lending, and a strong euro. Even prior to the global economic crisis Germany and France flouted the member states' treaty obligation to prevent their national budgets from running more than a 3% deficit, and now many more member states are running substantial deficits. Between 2004 and 2007, the EU admitted 12 countries that are, in general, less advanced economically than the other 15. 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, Sweden, and Denmark chose not to participate. Of the 12 most recent member states, only Slovenia (1 January 2007), Cyprus and Malta (1 January 2008), and Slovakia (1 January 2009) have adopted the euro; the remaining eight are legally required to adopt the currency upon meeting EU's fiscal and monetary convergence criteria. |
GDP (purchasing power parity):
|
$14.52 trillion (2009 est.)
$15.12 trillion (2008 est.)
$14.99 trillion (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars |
GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$32,700 (2009 est.)
$34,100 (2008 est.)
$33,900 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars |
GDP (official exchange rate):
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$15.99 trillion (2008 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate:
|
-4% (2009 est.)
0.9% (2008 est.)
3% (2007 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 2.1%
industry: 25.8%
services: 72.1% (2008 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed):
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19.7% of GDP (2008 est.) |
Population below poverty line:
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note - see individual country entries of member states |
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
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lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 25.2% (2001 est.) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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31 (2006)
31.2 (2003 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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0.6% (2009 est.)
1.8% (2006 est.) |
Central bank discount rate:
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3% (31 December 2008)
5% (31 December 2007)
note: this is the European Central Bank's rate on the marginal lending facility, which offers overnight credit to banks in the euro area |
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
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8.6% (31 December 2008)
8.03% (31 December 2007) |
Stock of money:
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$5.542 trillion (31 December 2008)
$5.649 trillion (31 December 2007)
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 |
Stock of money - per capita:
|
void |
Stock of quasi money:
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$5.631 trillion (31 December 2008)
$5.18 trillion (31 December 2007)
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 |
Stock of quasi money - per capita:
|
void |
Stock of domestic credit:
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$21.17 trillion (31 December 2008)
$20.94 trillion (31 December 2007)
note: this figure refers to the euro area only; it excludes credit data for non-euro-area members of the EU |
Stock of domestic credit - per capita:
|
void |
Labor force:
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224.8 million (2008 est.) |
Labor force participation rate:
|
void |
Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture: 5.6%
industry: 27.7%
services: 66.7% (2007 est.) |
Unemployment rate:
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9.4% (2009 est.)
7.2% (2006 est.) |
Budget:
|
void |
Budget revenues per capita:
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void |
Public debt:
|
void |
Industries:
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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 |
Industrial production growth rate:
|
-9% (2008 est.) |
Electricity - production:
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3.044 trillion kWh (2007 est.) |
Electricity - production per capita:
|
void |
Electricity - consumption:
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2.884 trillion kWh (2007 est.) |
Electricity - consumption - per capita:
|
void |
Electricity - exports:
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NA kWh |
Electricity - imports:
|
NA kWh |
Oil - production:
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2.538 million bbl/day (2007 est.) |
Oil - production per capita:
|
void |
Oil - consumption:
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14.44 million bbl/day (2007 est.) |
Oil - consumption - per capita:
|
void |
Oil - exports:
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2.196 million bbl/day (2007 est.) |
Oil - imports:
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8.613 million bbl/day (2007 est.) |
Oil - proved reserves:
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5.718 billion bbl (1 January 2008) |
Natural gas - production:
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201.9 billion cu m (2007 est.) |
Natural gas - production per capita:
|
void |
Natural gas - consumption:
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516.9 billion cu m (2007 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption - per capita:
|
void |
Natural gas - exports:
|
NA cu m |
Natural gas - imports:
|
NA cu m |
Natural gas - proved reserves:
|
2.318 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.) |
Agriculture - products:
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wheat, barley, oilseeds, sugar beets, wine, grapes; dairy products, cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry; fish |
Current account balance:
|
$51.4 billion (2009 est.) |
Current account balance - per capita:
|
void |
Exports:
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$1.952 trillion (2007 est.)
$1.33 trillion (2005)
note: external exports, excluding intra-EU trade |
Exports per capita:
|
void |
Exports - commodities:
|
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. |
Exports - partners:
|
void |
Imports:
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$1.69 trillion (2007 est.)
$1.466 trillion (2005)
note: external imports, excluding intra-EU trade |
Imports per capita:
|
void |
Imports - commodities:
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machinery, vehicles, aircraft, plastics, crude oil, chemicals, textiles, metals, foodstuffs, clothing |
Imports - partners:
|
void |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
|
$NA |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold - per capita:
|
void |
Debt - external:
|
void |
Debt - external - per capita:
|
void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
|
void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home - per capita:
|
void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
|
void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad - per capita:
|
void |
Market value of publicly traded shares:
|
$NA (31 December 2009)
$15.57 trillion (31 December 2008)
$13.5 trillion (31 December 2006 est.) |
Market value of publicly traded shares - per capita:
|
void |
Economic aid - donor:
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void |
Economic aid - recipient:
|
void |
Economic aid - recipient per capita:
|
void |
Currency (code):
|
euro, British pound, Bulgarian lev, Czech koruna, Danish krone, Estonian kroon, Hungarian forint, Latvian lat, Lithuanian litas, Polish zloty, Romanian leu, Slovak koruna, Swedish krona |
Exchange rates:
|
euros per US dollar - 0.7338 (2009), 0.6827 (2008), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005) |
Fiscal year:
|
NA |
|
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