| Economy | European Union |
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Economy - overview:
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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. 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), 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. The EU economy recovered from the 2008 global financial crisis with moderate GDP growth in 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, but a sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone intensified throughout 2011 and became the bloc's top economic and political priority. Despite IMF/EU bailout programs in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, and austerity measures across the EU, significant risks to growth remain, including high official debts and deficits, aging populations, over-regulation of non-financial businesses, and doubts about the sustainability of the EMU. In 2011, in an attempt to stem the threat of contagion in the ongoing debt crisis and hold the common currency area together, euro-zone leaders boosted funding levels for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) from $350 billion to almost $600 billion, expanded the EFSF's powers while making loan terms more favorable for crisis-hit countries, and established a permanent crisis facility - the European Stabilization Mechanism (ESM) - to replace the EFSF in 2013; however leaders were unable to calm market jitters throughout late 2011. Leaders have also discussed closer fiscal integration and further increasing the amount of money the EFSF can lend, but had not come to agreement on the details as of year-end 2011. |
GDP (purchasing power parity):
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$15.39 trillion (2011 est.)
$15.15 trillion (2010 est.)
$14.88 trillion (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$34,000 (2011 est.)
$33,500 (2010 est.)
$33,000 (2009 est.)
note: data are in 2011 US dollars |
GDP (official exchange rate):
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$17.72 trillion (2011 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate:
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1.6% (2011 est.)
1.9% (2010 est.)
-4.1% (2009 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 1.8%
industry: 25.1%
services: 73.1% (2011 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed):
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18.6% of GDP (2011 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%: 1.1%
highest 10%: 26.9% (2010 est.) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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30.4 (2010 est.)
31.2 (1996 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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2.9% (2011 est.)
1.8% (2010 est.) |
Central bank discount rate:
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1.75% (31 December 2010)
1.75% (31 December 2009)
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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5.9% (31 December 2010 est.)
7.52% (31 December 2009 est.) |
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:
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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:
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void |
Stock of domestic credit:
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$23.59 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
$22.04 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)
$22.95 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)
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:
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void |
Stock of narrow money:
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$5.542 trillion (31 December 2010)
$5.649 trillion (31 December 2009)
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 broad money:
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$11.17 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)
$10.83 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)
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 |
Labor force:
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228.4 million (2011 est.) |
Labor force participation rate:
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void |
Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture: 4.7%
industry: 28.7%
services: 66.6% (2010 est.) |
Unemployment rate:
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9.4% (2011 est.)
9.6% (2010) |
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24:
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void |
Budget:
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void |
Budget revenues per capita:
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void |
Taxes and other revenues:
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void |
Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-):
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void |
Public debt:
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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:
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3.4% (2011 est.) |
Electricity - production:
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3.332 trillion kWh (2010 est.) |
Electricity - production per capita:
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void |
Electricity - consumption:
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2.887 trillion kWh (2008 est.) |
Electricity - consumption - per capita:
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void |
Electricity - exports:
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NA kWh |
Electricity - imports:
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NA kWh |
Oil - production:
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2.276 million bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - production per capita:
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void |
Oil - consumption:
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13.73 million bbl/day (2010 est.) |
Oil - consumption - per capita:
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void |
Oil - exports:
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2.196 million bbl/day (2009 est.) |
Oil - imports:
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8.613 million bbl/day (2009 est.) |
Oil - proved reserves:
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5.193 billion bbl (1 January 2011 est.) |
Natural gas - production:
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182.3 billion cu m (2010 est.) |
Natural gas - production per capita:
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void |
Natural gas - consumption:
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522.7 billion cu m (2010 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption - per capita:
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void |
Natural gas - exports:
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93.75 billion cu m |
Natural gas - imports:
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420.6 billion cu m |
Natural gas - proved reserves:
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2.168 trillion cu m (1 January 2010 est.) |
Agriculture - products:
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wheat, barley, oilseeds, sugar beets, wine, grapes; dairy products, cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry; fish |
Current account balance:
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-$32.72 billion (2011 est.)
-$23.27 billion (2010 est.) |
Current account balance - per capita:
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void |
Exports:
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$1.791 trillion (2010 est.)
$1.53 trillion (2009 est.)
note: external exports, excluding intra-EU trade |
Exports per capita:
|
void |
Exports - commodities:
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machinery, motor vehicles, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, fuels, aircraft, plastics, iron and steel, wood pulp and paper products, alcoholic beverages, furniture |
Exports - partners:
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United States 17.5%, China 8.3%, Switzerland 7.7%, Russia 6.3%, Turkey 4.5% (2010) |
Imports:
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$2 trillion (2010 est.)
$1.68 trillion (2009 est.)
note: external imports, excluding intra-EU trade |
Imports per capita:
|
void |
Imports - commodities:
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fuels and crude oil, machinery, vehicles, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, precious gemstones, textiles, aircraft, plastics, metals, ships |
Imports - partners:
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China 18.7%, United States 11%, Russia 9.7%, Switzerland 5.5%, Norway 4.4%, Japan 4.3% |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
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$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) |
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold - per capita:
|
void |
Debt - external:
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$16.08 trillion (30 June 2011)
$13.72 trillion (30 June 2010) |
Debt - external - per capita:
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void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
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$NA |
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home - per capita:
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void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
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void |
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad - per capita:
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void |
Market value of publicly traded shares:
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$10.5 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)
$9.823 trillion (31 December 2009)
$7.582 trillion (31 December 2008 est.) |
Market value of publicly traded shares - per capita:
|
void |
Currency (code):
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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:
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euros per US dollar -
0.7107 (2011 est.)
0.754 (2010)
0.7198 (2009)
0.6827 (2008)
0.7345 (2007) |
Fiscal year:
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NA |
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