| Economy | European Union |
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Economy - overview:
|
Internally, the EU is attempting to lower trade barriers, adopt a common currency, and move 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 $69,000) and historic national animosities, the EU faces difficulties in devising and enforcing common policies. For example, since 2003 Germany and France have flouted the member states' treaty obligation to prevent their national budgets from running more than a 3% deficit. In 2004 and 2007, the EU admitted 10 and two countries, respectively, that are, in general, less advanced technologically and 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) and Cyprus and Malta (1 January 2008) have adopted the euro; the remaining nine are legally required to adopt the currency upon meeting EU's fiscal and monetary convergence criteria. |
GDP (purchasing power parity):
|
$14.82 trillion (2008 est.)
$14.66 trillion (2007)
$14.34 trillion (2006)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars |
GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$33,400 (2008 est.)
$33,400 (2007 est.)
$32,600 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars |
GDP (official exchange rate):
|
$18.85 trillion (2008 est.) |
GDP - real growth rate:
|
1% (2008 est.)
3% (2007 est.)
3.3% (2006 est.) |
GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 2%
industry: 26.8%
services: 71.1% (2008 est.) |
Investment (gross fixed):
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21% 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:
|
lowest 10%: 2.8%
highest 10%: 25.2% (2001 est.) |
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
|
31 (2005 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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3% (2008 est.) |
Central bank discount rate:
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4%
note: This is the European Central Bank's rate on the marginal lending facility, which offers overnight credit to banks from the Eurosystem (31 December 2008) |
Commercial bank prime lending rate:
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8.03% (31 December 2007) |
Stock of money:
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$5.679 trillion
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-Eurozone members of the European Union (31 December 2008) |
Stock of money - per capita:
|
void |
Stock of quasi money:
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$11.38 trillion
note: this is the quantity of quasi money, M2, 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-eurozone members of the European Union (31 December 2008) |
Stock of quasi money - per capita:
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void |
Stock of domestic credit:
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$20.94 trillion
note: this figure refers to the Euro area only; it excludes credit data for members of the EU outside the Eurozone (31 December 2007) |
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%
note: the remainder is in miscellaneous public and private sector industries and services (2007 est.) |
Unemployment rate:
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7.5% (2008 est.) |
Budget:
|
void |
Budget revenues per capita:
|
void |
Public debt:
|
void |
Industries:
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among the world's largest and most technologically advanced, the European Union 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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-0.4% (2008 est.) |
Electricity - production:
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3.103 trillion kWh (2007 est.) |
Electricity - production per capita:
|
void |
Electricity - consumption:
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2.926 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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2.676 million bbl/day (2007 est.) |
Oil - production per capita:
|
void |
Oil - consumption:
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14.38 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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6.146 billion bbl (1 January 2008) |
Natural gas - production:
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197.8 billion cu m (2007 est.) |
Natural gas - production per capita:
|
void |
Natural gas - consumption:
|
497.3 billion cu m (2007 est.) |
Natural gas - consumption - per capita:
|
void |
Natural gas - exports:
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NA cu m |
Natural gas - imports:
|
NA cu m |
Natural gas - proved reserves:
|
2.476 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.) |
Agriculture - products:
|
wheat, barley, oilseeds, sugar beets, wine, grapes; dairy products, cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry; fish |
Current account balance:
|
$51.4 billion (2008 est.) |
Current account balance - per capita:
|
void |
Exports:
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$1.952 trillion; note - external exports, excluding intra-EU trade (2007) |
Exports per capita:
|
void |
Exports - commodities:
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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 f.o.b.; note - external imports, excluding intra-EU trade (2007) |
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:
|
$14.37 trillion (2008 est.) |
Market value of publicly traded shares - per capita:
|
void |
Economic aid - donor:
|
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 - 0.6827 (2008 est.), 0.7345 (2007), 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004) |
Fiscal year:
|
NA |
|
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