Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: eu

  • Household saving rate all time high at 16.9% in the euro area

    Household saving rate all time high at 16.9% in the euro area

    The household saving rate in the euro area was at 16.9% in the first quarter of 2020 compared with 12.7% in the fourth quarter of 2019.

    This was the highest increase since the beginning of the series in 1999.

    The household investment rate in the euro area was 8.7% in the first quarter of 2020, lower than the rate of 9.1% during the previous quarter.

    These data come from a first release of seasonally adjusted quarterly European sector accounts from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union and the European Central Bank (ECB).

    The quarterly increase of the household saving rate of 4.2 percentage points is related to 0.9% increase of gross disposable income and 4.0% decline in individual consumption expenditure of households.

    The quarterly decline of 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous quarter is explained by 3.2% decline in gross fixed capital formation and 0.9% increase of gross disposable income.

  • Business profit share recorded sharpest drop in the euro area

    Business profit share recorded sharpest drop in the euro area

    In the first quarter of 2020, when Member States began to widely introduce COVID-19 containment measures in March 2020, the business profit share dropped to 37.9% in the euro area, compared with 39.6% in the previous quarter.

    This decline of the business profit share is the highest since the beginning of the series in 1999.

    The business investment rate in the euro area was slightly down to 25.5% in the first quarter of 2020, compared with 25.8% in the previous quarter.

    These data come from a first release of seasonally adjusted quarterly European sector accounts from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, and the European Central Bank (ECB).

  • 54% of people aged 16-74 in EU are using social media

    54% of people aged 16-74 in EU are using social media

    54% of people aged 16-74 participated in social networks in 2019 in the last 3 months prior to Eurostat survey in EU.

    The EU’s social network participation rate has steadily increased since the beginning of the data collection (36% in 2011).

    Social network participation includes activities such as creating a user profile, posting messages or other contributions to social networks.

    Among EU Member States, the social network participation rate was highest in Denmark (81%), ahead of Belgium (76%), Cyprus and Sweden (both 72%) and Malta (71%).

    At the opposite end of the scale, this share was below 50% in two Member States: France and Italy (both 42%).  

    Among younger people in the EU aged 16 to 24 years, almost 9 in every 10 participated in social networks (86%). This share ranged from 73% in Italy and 74% in France to 98% in Cyprus. 

    Among older people aged 65 to 74 years, almost one fifth (18%) participated in social networks. This share ranged from 9% in Bulgaria to 51% in Denmark. 

  • Over 23 000 people killed in road accidents in the EU in 2018

    Over 23 000 people killed in road accidents in the EU in 2018

    In 2018, 23 339 people died in road accidents in the EU, 45% being passenger car occupants, 21% pedestrians, 15% motorcycles, 8% bicycles and 12% other categories, shows Eurostat.

    There has been a downward trend over the last 10 years in the number of road traffic victims in the EU.

    Compared with 2008, the number of road fatalities has fallen by more than 13 000 persons (-37%), from almost 37 000 to less than 24 000 in 2018.

    Highest number of road fatalities in Romania and Bulgaria

    Compared with the population of each member state, the lowest rates of road fatalities in 2018 were observed in Ireland (29 road traffic victims per million inhabitants), Denmark (30), Sweden (32) and the Netherlands (35), ahead of Malta (38), Spain (39) and Germany (40).

    At the opposite end of the scale, the highest rates were recorded in Romania (96 road traffic victims per million inhabitants), Bulgaria (87), Croatia and Latvia (both 77) and Poland (75).

    In 2018, there were in total 52 road traffic victims per million inhabitants in the EU as a whole.

  • Ryanair wants EU to block €3.4bn ”illegal” state aid to KLM

    Ryanair wants EU to block €3.4bn ”illegal” state aid to KLM

    Ryanair called on the EU Commission ”to block the latest illegal” State Aid of €3.4bn to Dutch flag carrier KLM, which equates to a subsidy of €200 on behalf of every man, woman and child of Holland.

    The company shows that ”The Dutch Govt are great at preaching fiscal conservatism to other EU countries but when it comes to bailing out flag carrier airlines they write subsidy checks even faster than Mrs Merkel”.

    Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said: “16 years after Air France’s takeover of KLM, every Dutch citizen now has to pay €200 each to prop-up Air France-KLM, while each French citizen will only pay a subsidy €100. For this €200 KLM subsidy, every Dutch man, woman and child could buy 5 flights with Ryanair, instead of paying for the failure and inefficiency at Air France-KLM.”

    ”We call on the European Commission to block this subsidy doping to KLM, which will further reduce competition and consumer choice in the Dutch and French markets”, O’Leary completed.

  • Households accounted for 26.1% of energy consumption in EU

    Households accounted for 26.1% of energy consumption in EU

    In 2018, households accounted for 26.1% of final energy consumption in the European Union (EU), latest Eurostat data shows.

    Most of the EU final energy consumption in the households is covered by natural gas (32.1%) and electricity (24.7%).

    Renewables account for 19.5%, followed by petroleum products (11.6%) and derived heat (8.7%). A small proportion (3.4%) is still covered by coal products (solid fuels).

    Energy consumption in households by type of end-use

    In the EU, the main use of energy by households is for heating their homes (63.6% of final energy consumption in the residential sector).

    Electricity used for lighting and most electrical appliances represents 14.1% (this excludes the use of electricity for powering the main heating, cooling or cooking systems), while the proportion used for water heating is slightly higher, representing 14.8%.

    Main cooking devices require 6.1% of the energy used by households, while space cooling and other end-uses cover 0.4% and 1.0% respectively.

    The heating of space and water consequently represents 78.4% of the final energy consumed by households.

  • Non-EU citizens counted for 5% of the EU population in 2019

    Non-EU citizens counted for 5% of the EU population in 2019

    On 1 January 2019, 21.8 million citizens of a non-member country lived in one of the 27 EU Member States, representing almost 5% of the EU population, Eurostat shows.

    In addition, there were 13.3 million people living in one of the EU Member States on 1 January 2019 with the citizenship of another EU Member State, representing almost 3% of the EU population.

    Highest shares of non-nationals in Luxembourg, lowest in Poland and Romania

    In relative terms, the EU Member State with the highest share of non-nationals was Luxembourg, at 47% of its total population.

    A high proportion of foreign citizens (10% or more of the resident population) was also observed in Cyprus, Malta, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Ireland, Belgium, Germany and Spain.

    In contrast, non-nationals represented less than 1% of the population in Poland and Romania.

    In most EU Member States, the majority of non-nationals were citizens of non-EU countries.

  • 22% of workers born outside EU, employed on a temporary contract

    22% of workers born outside EU, employed on a temporary contract

    In the European Union (EU), in 2019, more than one fifth (22%) of employees born outside the EU were employed on a temporary contract, latest Eurostat data shows.

    In comparison, the share of people with a temporary contract among employees born in another EU Member State was 15%, while native-born employees with a temporary job had the lowest rate, standing at 13%.

    Highest share of employees born outside the EU on temporary contracts in Poland

    In 2019, across the EU Member States, the highest share of employees born outside the EU employed on temporary contracts was recorded in Poland (53%), followed by Spain (38%), Cyprus (33%), Portugal (29%), Sweden (26%) and the Netherlands (25%).

    By contrast, the lowest share was observed in Estonia (2%), followed by Latvia (4%), Austria (8%) and Ireland (10%).

    For persons born in another EU Member State (other than the Member State of residence), the highest share of temporary employees in the total number of employees was recorded in 2019 in Spain (29%), followed by Portugal (24%), Greece (23%) and Italy (21%).

    At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest share of employees with a temporary job was observed in Hungary and Ireland (both 6%), Austria (7%), Luxembourg, Cyprus and Slovenia (all 9%).

    In 2019, the share of temporary employees in the total number of native-born employees peaked in Spain (24 %), followed by Poland (21%), Portugal (19%) and Croatia (18%).

    By contrast, the lowest shares were observed in Lithuania, Romania (both 1%), Estonia, Latvia (both 3%) and Bulgaria (4%).

  • Luxembourg has the most cars per inhabitant in the EU

    Luxembourg has the most cars per inhabitant in the EU

    Among EU Member States, Luxembourg recorded the highest ’motorisation rate’ with 676 passenger cars per 1.000 inhabitants in 2018, Eurostat data shows.

    However, cross-border workers using company cars registered in the country may influence this figure.

    Luxembourg was followed by Italy (646 cars), Cyprus and Finland (both 629 cars). In contrast, the lowest rates were recorded in Romania (332 cars), Latvia (369 cars) and Hungary (373 cars).

    In 2018, the highest number of registered passenger cars was recorded in Germany with 47 million cars. Thereafter followed Italy (39 million cars) and France (32 million cars).

    From 2014 to 2018, Romania had the strongest growth in the number of registered passenger cars

    Romania (31%) was followed by Czechia, Slovakia and Lithuania (each 19%), Hungary and Portugal (both 17%) and Cyprus (15%).

    Poland has the ”oldest” cars in EU

    Several EU Member States reported a large share of ’old’ passenger cars (20 years or older) in 2018. The Member States with the highest shares were Poland (36.5%), Estonia (29.6%), Finland (25.2%), Romania (21.4%) and Malta (20.8%).

    By contrast, the shares of the ’youngest’ passenger cars (less than 2 years old) were highest in Ireland (29.2%), Luxembourg (23.8%), Denmark (23.3%) and Belgium (23.1%).

  • Duration of working life on the rise in the European Union

    Duration of working life on the rise in the European Union

    In 2019, the expected average duration of working life for the European Union’s (EU) adult population aged 15 years and more was 35.9 years, Eurostat data shows.

    This was 0.2 years longer than the average for 2018, and 3.6 years longer than in 2000.

    Men were expected to work longer than women in 2019 (38.3 years for men compared with 33.4 years for women).

    Although the expected average duration of working life has been longer for men than women since the start of the data series, the gender gap has been shrinking.

    Men worked 7.1 years longer than women in 2000, but by 2019 the gender gap had shrunk to 4.9 years.

    Expected duration of working life longest in Sweden, shortest in Italy

    Among EU Member States, Sweden and the Netherlands had the longest duration of working life (42.0 and 41.0 years in 2019 respectively).

    These were the only two EU Member States where the expected duration of working years exceeded 40 years.

    These two Member States were followed by Denmark (40.0 years), Germany (39.1 years) and Estonia (39.0 years).

    In contrast, the shortest expected duration of working life was recorded in Italy (32.0 years) followed by Croatia (32.5 years), Greece (33.2 years), Belgium and Poland (both 33.6 years).

    Highest increase in duration of working life recorded in Malta, lowest increase in Denmark, only decrease in Romania

    Compared with 2000, the expected average duration of working life was higher for all EU Member States in 2019, with the exception of Romania (a decline of 2.2 years).

    The largest increases between 2000 and 2019 in the duration of working life were recorded in Malta (7.6 years), Hungary (6.9 years) and Estonia (5.6 years), and the smallest increases in Denmark (1.7 years) and Greece (1.8 years).

  • How many students and teachers were in the EU in 2018?

    How many students and teachers were in the EU in 2018?

    Eurostat most recent available official data are from 2018, when there were around 76.2 million pupils and students enrolled in schools and pre-schools in the EU across all of these education levels.

    However, the exact sum without rounding was closer to 76.1 million.

    There were 15.7 million children in early childhood education. In primary education, typically starting at ages 5 to 7 years old and lasting around six years, there were 24.5 million pupils enrolled.

    Secondary education is divided in lower and upper level.

    In 2018, 18.3 million students were enrolled in lower secondary education, with students typically entering when they are 10 to 13 years old, typically finishing nine years after the start of primary education when students are at an age of 15-16 year old.

    Finally, there were 17.7 million students in upper secondary education in 2018, covering both general studies and vocational studies. Upper secondary school typically ends 12-13 years after the students entered their primary education.

    Altogether,

    How many students each teacher is responsible for?

    For the pre-school children, there was on average one educator per 10.9 children in 2018. For primary school, the classes were somewhat larger, with on average 13.6 pupils per teacher.

    At secondary level, teachers are usually specialised and teach specific subjects to different classes.

    On average in the EU, there were 12.0 students per teacher at lower secondary level and 11.3 at upper secondary level in 2018.

  • Where are the densest motorway networks across EU regions

    Where are the densest motorway networks across EU regions

    Most European capitals and large cities are surrounded by a ring of motorways in order to meet the high demand for road transport originating from these metropolitan areas.

    As a result, dense motorway networks can be found around capitals such as Budapest (120 km per 1000 km2), Wien (109 km per 1000 km2), Madrid (96 km per 1000 km2), Prague and Berlin (both 91 km per 1000 km2).

    Since the motorways are generally concentrated in a ring close to the cities, the motorway density often decreases with the size of the area. For example, the motorway density reported for relatively small region of Wien is higher than for the much larger region of Île-de-France, even though the motorway network of Paris is larger per se.

    Other densely populated regions with high motorway density include the Randstad region in the western part of the Netherlands: Zuid-Holland (127 km per 1000 km2), Utrecht (125 km per 1000 km2) and Noord-Holland (108 km per 1000 km2).

    High motorway densities are also found around the major seaports of northern Europe: the motorway densities of the regions of Bremen (205 km per 1000 km2) with the port of Bremerhaven, of Zuid-Holland with the port of Rotterdam (127 km per 1000 km2) and of Hamburg (114 km per 1000 km2) are among the highest of all European regions.

    Another reason for the high density of the motorway network in some central European countries (such as Germany) is the proportionately high volume of transit freight traffic.

    The density of motorways on islands is generally low, as islands cannot be reached directly by road. Instead, they rely on sea or air transport. Even so, the motorway density of the Canary Islands appears relatively high at 37 km per 1000 km².