European Union statistics

Statistics in the European Union are collected by Eurostat (European statistics body).

Area and population[]

As of 1 January 2006, the population of the EU was about 493 million people, although in 2020 the EU lost over 10% of its population as a result of the UK leaving the bloc.^[1] Many countries are expected to experience a decline in population over the coming decades,^[2] though this could be offset with new countries planning to join the EU within the next 20 years. The most populous member state is Germany, with an estimated 80.4 million people. France and Ireland have the highest birth-rates.^[3] The most densely populated country is the island of Malta, which is also the smallest, while the largest in area is France. The least densely populated country is Finland.

Population figures in the table below are from 2006 or 2007 estimates. The highest and lowest figures in each column have been marked in bold.

Member State	Population in millions	Population  % of EU	Area km2	Area % of EU	Pop. density People/km2
European Union	494.8	100%	4,422,773	100%	112
Austria	8.3	1.7%	83,858	1.9%	99
Belgium	10.5	2.1%	30,510	0.7%	344
Bulgaria	7.7	1.6%	110,912	2.5%	70
Croatia	4.3	0.9%	56,594	1.3%	75.8
Cyprus	0.8	0.2%	9,250	0.2%	84
Czech Republic	10.3	2.1%	78,866	1.8%	131
Denmark	5.4	1.1%	43,094	1.0%	126
Estonia	1.3	0.3%	45,226	1.0%	29
Finland	5.3	1.1%	337,030	7.6%	16
France[4]	65.03	13.%	643,548	14.6%	111
Germany	80.4	16.6%	357,021	8.1%	225
Greece	11.1	2.2%	131,940	3.0%	84
Hungary	10.1	2.0%	93,030	2.1%	108
Ireland	4.6	0.9%	70,280	1.6%	60
Italy	58.8	11.9%	301,320	6.8%	195
Latvia	2.3	0.5%	64,589	1.5%	35
Lithuania	3.4	0.7%	65,200	1.5%	45
Luxembourg	0.5	0.1%	2,586	0.1%	181
Malta	0.5	0.1%	316	0.0007%	1,261
Netherlands	17	3.3%	41,526	0.9%	394
Poland	38.1	7.7%	312,685	7.1%	122
Portugal	10.6	2.1%	92,931	2.1%	114
Romania	21.6	4.4%	238,391	5.4%	91
Spain	44.7	9.0%	504,782	11.4%	87
Slovakia	5.4	1.1%	48,845	1.1%	111
Slovenia	2.0	0.4%	20,253	0.5%	99
Sweden	10	1.8%	449,964	10.2%	20

Economy[]

For statistics relating to economy, please see Economy of the European Union.

EU budget[]

The primary resource for funding the European Union is the contributions sought from member states. Each member state contributes to the EU budget, and receives funding back from the EU, depending on the relative wealth of the states, i.e. their ability to pay.

The table below shows the contributions as a percentage of the total budget. This takes into account the special considerations given to the United Kingdom to reduce its contribution through a rebate. Expenditure in Luxembourg, Belgium and France include items for the EU administrative centres in each of those countries.

Member State	Total contribution in Euro	Total contribution as % of total EU budget	Total expenditure year 2006 in Euro	Total expenditure as % of total EU budget	Net contribution in Euro	Net contribution in Euro per capita	Total contribution in Euro per capita
European Union	105,259,468,772	100.00%	106,575,500,000	100.00%	-1,316,031,228	-3	213
Germany	22,218,438,941	21.11%	12,242,400,000	11.49%	9,976,038,941	124	276
France	17,303,107,859	16.44%	13,496,200,000	12.66%	3,806,907,859	59	266
Italy	14,359,479,157	13.64%	10,922,300,000	10.25%	3,437,179,157	58	244
United Kingdom	13,739,900,046	13.05%	8,294,200,000	7.78%	5,445,700,046	90	226
Spain	8,957,286,488	8.51%	12,883,000,000	12.09%	-3,925,713,512	-88	200
Netherlands	5,552,933,781	5.28%	2,190,400,000	2.06%	3,362,533,781	198	327
Belgium	4,035,286,807	3.83%	5,625,100,000	5.28%	-1,589,813,193	-151	384
Sweden	2,832,862,800	2.69%	1,573,400,000	1.48%	1,259,462,800	126	283
Austria	2,308,432,030	2.19%	1,830,100,000	1.72%	478,332,030	58	278
Denmark	2,130,860,212	2.02%	1,501,900,000	1.41%	628,960,212	116	395
Poland	2,099,087,114	1.99%	5,305,600,000	4.98%	-3,206,512,886	-84	55
Greece	1,882,611,879	1.79%	6,833,700,000	6.41%	-4,951,088,121	-446	170
Finland	1,544,832,284	1.47%	1,280,400,000	1.20%	264,432,284	50	291
Portugal	1,443,049,602	1.37%	3,634,800,000	3.41%	-2,191,750,398	-207	136
Ireland	1,341,281,313	1.27%	2,461,800,000	2.31%	-1,120,518,687	-244	292
Hungary	1,003,119,411	0.95%	1,842,200,000	1.73%	-839,080,589	-83	99
Czech Republic	932,392,859	0.89%	1,330,000,000	1.25%	-397,607,141	-39	91
Slovakia	393,148,777	0.37%	696,200,000	0.65%	-303,051,223	-56	73
Slovenia	299,993,572	0.29%	406,000,000	0.38%	-106,006,428	-53	150
Luxembourg	241,439,011	0.23%	1,194,800,000	1.12%	-953,360,989	-1,907	483
Lithuania	221,997,405	0.21%	799,800,000	0.75%	-577,802,595	-170	65
Cyprus	144,556,416	0.14%	239,600,000	0.22%	-95,043,584	-119	181
Latvia	115,205,431	0.11%	402,600,000	0.24%	-287,394,569	-125	50
Estonia	100,756,308	0.10%	300,000,000	0.28%	-199,243,692	-142	72
Malta	57,409,269	0.05%	157,000,000	0.14%	-99,590,731	-249	144
Bulgaria			360,600,000	0.34%	-360,600,000	-47
Romania			693,100,000	0.65%	-693,100,000	-32

Economic and governance-related rankings[]

There are many indices available on issues such as corruption, development, and freedom. The rankings below include all EU member states, EU candidates (with the exception of Turkey, cause their accession negotiations have stalled since 2016) and EFTA countries.

Freedom of the press[]

EU Rank Member State Global Rank 1  Norway 1 2  Finland 2 3  Denmark 3 4  Sweden 5 5  Netherlands 6 6   Switzerland 8 7  Portugal 10 8  Germany 11 9  Belgium 12 10  Ireland 13 11  Estonia 14 12  Iceland 15 13  Luxembourg 17 14  Austria 18 15  Latvia 22 16  Cyprus 27 17  Lithuania 28

EU Rank Member State Global Rank 18  Spain 29 19  Slovenia 32 20  Slovakia 33 21  France 34 22  Czech Republic 40 23  Italy 41 24  Romania 48 25  Croatia 59 26  Poland 62 27  Greece 65 28  Malta 81 29  Albania 85 30  Hungary 89 31  North Macedonia 92 32  Serbia 93 33  Montenegro 105 34  Bulgaria 111

Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders) conducts an annual survey on the freedom of the press and produces scores (not shown here) for each country, resulting in the Press Freedom Index. In 2019 and 2020, Finland was proclaimed as having the freest press in the European Union, and the second in the world behind Norway. Bulgaria was ranked as having the least free press in the European Union in 2019 and 2020.^[5]

Colour Codes
Good Situation
Satisfactory Situation
Noticeable problems
Difficult situation

Economic freedom[]

EU Rank Member State Global Rank 1   Switzerland 5 2  Ireland 6 3  Denmark 8 4  Estonia 10 5  Iceland 13 6  Netherlands 14 7  Lithuania 16 8  Luxembourg 19 9  Finland 20 10  Sweden 22 11  Czech Republic 23 12  Germany 27 13  Norway 28 14  Austria 29 15  Latvia 32 16  Bulgaria 36 17  Cyprus 37

EU Rank Member State Global Rank 18  Romania 38 19  North Macedonia 41 20  Malta 42 21  Poland 46 22  Belgium 48 23  Slovenia 52 24  Portugal 56 25  Albania 57 26  Spain 58 27  Slovakia 60 28  Hungary 62 29  France 64 30  Serbia 65 31  Italy 74 32  Croatia 84 33  Montenegro 91 34  Greece 100

An index of Economic Freedom is produced by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation. It uses 50 different variables to compile the survey, in areas such as trade policy and government intervention.

A similar index produced by the World Economic Forum is its Global Competitiveness Index.

Source: 2020 Index of Economic Freedom.

Colour Codes
Free
Mostly Free
Moderately Free
Moderately Unfree

Perception of corruption[]

Global Rank Country Score 1  Denmark 88 3  Finland 85 3   Switzerland 85 3  Sweden 84 7  Norway 84 8  Netherlands 82 9  Luxembourg 80 9  Germany 80 11  United Kingdom 77 15  Austria 76 15  Belgium 76 17  Estonia 75 17  Iceland 75 20  Ireland 72 23  France 68 32  Spain 62 33  Portugal 61 35  Lithuania 60 35  Slovenia 60 42  Cyprus 57 42  Latvia 57 45  Poland 56

Global Rank Country Score 45  Georgia 56 49  Czech Republic 54 52  Malta 53 52  Italy 53 59  Greece 50 60  Slovakia 49 60  Armenia 49 63  Croatia 47 63  Belarus 47 67  Montenegro 45 69  Bulgaria 44 69  Hungary 44 69  Romania 44 86  Turkey 40 94  Serbia 38 104  Albania 36 111  Bosnia and Herzegovina 35 111  North Macedonia 35 115  Moldova 35 117  Ukraine 33 129  Azerbaijan 30 129  Russia 30

Transparency International is an international NGO publishing an annual Global Corruption Report indicating the perception of corruption around the world. The rankings of the table refer to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2019 [1]. A high ranking means low corruption.

Human development[]

Rank Country Global Rank 1  Norway 1 2  Ireland 2 3   Switzerland 2 4  Iceland 4 5  Germany 6 6  Sweden 7 7  Netherlands 8 8  Denmark 10 9  Finland 11 10  United Kingdom 13 11  Belgium 14 12  Austria 18 13  Slovenia 22 14  Luxembourg 23 15  Spain 25 16  France 26 17  Czech Republic 27 18  Malta 28 19  Estonia 29 20  Italy 29 21  Greece 32 22  Cyprus 33

Rank Country Global Rank 23  Lithuania 34 24  Poland 35 25  Latvia 37 26  Portugal 38 27  Slovakia 39 28  Hungary 40 29  Croatia 43 30  Montenegro 48 31  Romania 49 32  Russia 52 33  Belarus 53 34  Turkey 54 35  Bulgaria 56 36  Georgia 61 37  Serbia 64 38  Albania 69 39  Bosnia and Herzegovina 73 40  Ukraine 74 41  Armenia 81 42  North Macedonia 82 43  Azerbaijan 88 44  Moldova 90

Colour Codes
Very High Human Development
High Human Development

The Human Development Index is a measure produced by the United Nations which covers three aspects of human development:

• poverty (GDP per capita)
• education ( and )
• health (life expectancy)

The rankings of the table refer to the UNDP Human Development Report 2019 (2018 data). The UN lists all EU member states as countries with very high human development.

Ease of doing business[]

EU Rank Member State Global Rank 1  Denmark 4 2  Norway 9 3  Sweden 10 4  Lithuania 11 5  North Macedonia 17 6  Estonia 18 7  Latvia 19 8  Finland 20 9  Germany 22 10  Ireland 24 11  Iceland 26 12  Austria 27 13  Spain 30 14  France 32 15   Switzerland 36 16  Slovenia 37 17  Portugal 39

EU Rank Member State Global Rank 18  Poland 40 19  Czech Republic 41 20  Netherlands 42 21  Serbia 44 22  Slovakia 45 23  Belgium 46 24  Montenegro 50 25  Croatia 51 26  Hungary 52 27  Cyprus 54 28  Romania 55 29  Italy 58 30  Bulgaria 61 31  Luxembourg 72 32  Greece 79 33  Albania 82 34  Malta 88

The Ease of Doing Business Index is created by the World Bank and based on the study of laws and regulations, with the input and verification by more than 3,500 government officials, lawyers, business consultants, accountants and other professionals who routinely advise on or administer legal and regulatory requirements.

The data in the table are from the 2020 report.^[6]

Colour Codes
Very Easy
Easy

Legatum Prosperity Index[]

Global Rank Country Score 1  Denmark 84.37 2  Norway 83.81 3   Switzerland 83.35 4  Sweden 83.15 5  Finland 83.05 6  Netherlands 82.04 8  Germany 81.07 9  Luxembourg 81.02 10  Austria 80.43 11  Iceland 80.21 12  Ireland 80.18 13  United Kingdom 80.07 21  Estonia 76.89 22  France 76.55 23  Belgium 76.13 24  Spain 75.84 25  Malta 75.48 26  Slovenia 74.56 27  Portugal 74.07 29  Czech Republic 73.12 31  Italy 71.83 32  Latvia 71.01

Global Rank Country Score 33  Cyprus 70.32 34  Lithuania 70.24 35  Slovakia 69.63 36  Poland 69.14 41  Greece 67.32 43  Croatia 66.61 46  Hungary 66.13 47  Romania 64.92 48  Bulgaria 64.40 50  Montenegro 63.68 52  Serbia 62.47 53  Georgia 61.82 55  Armenia 61.41 59  North Macedonia 61.01 67  Albania 59.57 69  Belarus 59.33 76  Russia 58.04 77  Bosnia and Herzegovina 58.00 78  Azerbaijan 57.69 80  Moldova 57.13 92  Ukraine 55.73 94  Turkey 54.94

Colour Codes
75.00-85.00
65.00-75.00
55.00-65.00
55.00 or less

The Legatum Prosperity Index is an annual ranking developed by the Legatum Institute, a division of the private investment firm Legatum. The ranking is based on a variety of factors including wealth, economic growth, education, health, personal well-being, and quality of life.

See also[]

• Enlargement of the European Union
• Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits
• Hispanics and Latins in Europe
• List of European Union member states by population
• Largest urban areas of the European Union and Larger Urban Zones
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe statistics

References[]

External links[]

• Eurostat – Statistics Explained
• Health-EU Portal Health Statistics
• EU Budget Data^{[permanent dead link]}