Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: eurostat

  • European Union states exported almost 1.3 million bicycles in 2020

    European Union states exported almost 1.3 million bicycles in 2020

    In 2020, the European Union exported almost 1.3 million bicycles and other cycles, worth a total of €471 million, to countries outside of the EU, Eurostat reports.

    Over the same period, the EU imported almost 5 million bicycles, worth €930 million, from countries outside its borders.

    Compared with 2019, exports of bicycles and other cycles increased by 35% in 2020 in numbers, while imports declined by 3%.

    273.900 electric bicycles worth €427 million were exported by the EU in 2020. Meanwhile, the EU imported 839 100 electric bicycles, worth €721 million, from other countries.

    Compared with 2019, exports of electric bicycles increased by 43% in 2020 in numbers, while imports of electric bicycles increased by 19%.

    In 2020,UK was the main destination for EU exports of bicycles (34% of total extra-EU bicycle exports), followed by Switzerland (13%), Brazil (9%), Turkey (5%) and Uzbekistan (4%). 

    Imports of bicycles from non-EU countries came mainly from Cambodia (24% of total extra-EU bicycle imports), China (17%), Taiwan (11%), Bangladesh (8 %), Turkey (7%), Philippines (6%) and Sri Lanka (5%). 

  • Eurostat: 15% of all EU employees are low-wage earners

    Eurostat: 15% of all EU employees are low-wage earners

    In 2018, 15.3% of employees in the European Union (EU) were low-wage earners (this means that they earned two-thirds or less of their national median gross hourly earnings) compared to 16.4% in 2014.

    18.2% of female employees were low-wage earners in 2018, compared with 12.5% of male employees.

    In 2014, 19.9% among female employees and 13.2% among males were low wage earners.

    Highest share of low-wage earners in Latvia, lowest in Sweden

    The proportion of low wage earners varied significantly among EU States in 2018.

    The highest share was observed in Latvia (23.5%), followed by Lithuania (22.3%), Estonia (22.0%), Poland (21.9%) and Bulgaria (21.4%).

    In contrast, less than 10% of employees were low-wage earners in Sweden (3.6%), Portugal (4.0%), Finland (5.0%), Italy (8.5%), France (8.6%) and Denmark (8.7%).

    Low-wage earners accounted for more than a quarter (26.3%) of employees aged less than 30.

    The proportion of low-wage earners in the older age groups was much less, at 13.9% in the 50 and above age group and 12.6% in the 30-49 age group.

    More than a quarter (27.1%) of employees in the EU with a low education level were low-wage earners.

    Fewer employees with a medium level of education were low-wage earners (18.0% of employees), while low-wage earners accounted for just 4.6% of employees with a high education level.

    For employees whose contract of employment was of limited duration, 28.1% were low-wage earners, compared with 12.8% of those with an indefinite contract.

  • 59.5 million postcards were printed in the EU last year

    59.5 million postcards were printed in the EU last year

    This amount has been relatively stable since 2017, after substantial falls in the previous years. However, it fell by 41% compared to 2009, Eurostat reports.

    In 2019, more than two thirds of the postcards were printed in only three countries: Sweden (14.5 million; 24% of all postcards printed in the EU), Germany (13.9 million; 23%) and Spain (11.8 million; 20%).

    Decrease in the number of people working in postal and courier services

    In the EU, 1.5 million people, aged 15 or over, were employed in postal services in 2019. This is a 7% decrease compared to 2009.

    ”Postal services” include postal and courier activities, such as the pickup, transport and delivery of letters and parcels.

    Among those employed, 0.9 million were men, representing 58% of the total workers of this sector.

    In 2019, at EU level, on average 40 people per 10 000 inhabitants were working in the postal services sector. This is a decrease of 8% from 2009 (43 people per 10 000 inhabitants).

  • Households in the EU have devoted almost a quarter of income to housing costs

    Households in the EU have devoted almost a quarter of income to housing costs

    In 2019, nearly a quarter (23.5%) of household consumption expenditure was devoted to ”Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels”, Eurostat reports.

    This is the EU’s largest household expenditure item by far, ahead of ”Transport” (13.1%) and ”Food and non-alcoholic beverages” (13.0%), followed by ”Restaurants and hotels” as well as ”Recreation and culture” (both 8.7%).

    The remaining household spending was distributed over ”Furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance” (5.5%), ”Clothing and footwear” (4.6%) and ”Health” (4.4%).

    ”Alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics” stand at 4.0% of household consumption expenditure, ”Communications” account for 2.4%, ”Education” (0.9%) and ”Other” (11.2%).

  • EU household saving rate recorded its highest year-over-year increase

    EU household saving rate recorded its highest year-over-year increase

    In the second quarter of 2020, the EU household saving rate recorded its highest year-over-year increase since the time series began at +10.8 percentage points (pp), Eurostat reports.

    The main reason behind this was a marked 17.3% year-on-year decline in household final consumption expenditure. This drop in household final consumption expenditure was in stark contrast with the decrease of 1.8% in the last quarter and recent increases in excess of 2%.

    Compared with the second quarter of 2019, the household saving rate increased in all but one of the Member States (for which data are available) in the second quarter of 2020.

    Sweden was the only Member State where there was a decline (-0.6pp), while the highest year-over-year increase was observed for Ireland (+22.0 pp), followed by Spain (+13.7 pp).

    The increase in the household saving rate in the majority of the countries with available data is mainly explained by the large decrease in household individual consumption expenditure.

    The largest decreases in household expenditure were observed for Spain (-23.9%) and Ireland (-22.8%), while the lowest decreases were noted in Czechia (-4.4%) and Denmark (-7.7%).

  • France and Spain produced the most pumpkins and gourds in 2019 in EU

    France and Spain produced the most pumpkins and gourds in 2019 in EU

    In 2019, about 25.000 hectares across the European Union were devoted to cultivating pumpkins and other types of gourd, Eurostat reports.

    The EU Member States which produced the most pumpkins and gourds in 2019 were France (129.400 tonnes) and Spain (129.100 tonnes).

    They followed by Germany (86.000 tonnes), Portugal (72.700 tonnes) and Poland (68.500 tonnes).

    In 2019, the EU exported 21.700 tonnes of pumpkins, squash and gourds outside the EU, 64% more than in 2012. These exports were mainly to the United Kingdom in 2019 (63%), followed by Switzerland (16%) and Israel (11%).

    Spain exported the most pumpkins, squash and gourds to non-EU countries (36% of the extra-EU exports in volume) in 2019, closely followed by Portugal (30%), ahead of France (12%) and Greece (10%).

    In 2019, the EU imported 31.100 tonnes of pumpkins, squash and gourds from abroad, 81% more than in 2012. The highest share of the imports in 2019 came from South Africa (17%), followed by Panama (11%), Morocco (10%), the United Kingdom and Argentina (9% each) as well as Brazil (8%).

  • Total EU fish catch in 2019 at 4.1 million tonnes live weight

    Total EU fish catch in 2019 at 4.1 million tonnes live weight

    The total EU fish catch in 2019 was about 4.1 million tonnes live weight. Spain’s fishing fleet accounted for about one fifth of all EU catches (0.8 million tonnes), Eurostat reports.

    A little more than one quarter of the EU total is coming from the combined catches of Denmark (0.6 million tonnes) and France (0.5 million tonnes).

    70% of the total EU catch was taken in the Atlantic, Northeast area

    The key species caught in the Atlantic, Northeast area were small fish such as herring (21% of the live weight caught in this region), sprat (15%), blue whiting (10%) and mackerel (8%).

    About one fifth of the EU’s total live weight catch in this area was made by the fishing fleet of Denmark (22%), with a further one quarter coming from the combined catches of France (14%) and the Netherlands (11%). 

    About 11% of the total EU catch was taken in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the key species caught being sardines (24%) and anchovies (17%).

    Two-fifths of the total EU catch in this region was made by Italy (40%), with Greece (19%), Spain (17%) and Croatia (15%) accounting for the vast majority of the rest.

    About 7% of the total EU catch was taken in the Atlantic, Eastern Central area.

    The main catches in this area were skipjack (20%) and yellowfin tuna (17%), sardines (14%) and mackerel (13%).

    Among Member States, Spain (37%) and Lithuania (21%) accounted for the majority of catches, with much of the rest being made by the fleets of France and Latvia.

    Almost 7% of the total EU catch was taken in the Indian Ocean, Western area.

    Fishing here was focussed on tuna; 96% of the total live-weight caught by the EU fishing fleet was tuna, particularly skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye.

    More than two-thirds of the EU total catch was by Spain (70%), and most of the rest by France (27%).

    Only 5% of the total EU catch was taken in three remaining marine areas

    The main species caught in these areas were the following: hake (72% of the EU’s area catch) in the Atlantic, Southwest area; blue sharks (42% of the EU’s area catch) and skipjack tuna (14%) in the Atlantic, Southeast area; and redfish (38% of the EU’s area catch), cod (20%) and halibut (17%) in the Atlantic, Northwest area.

  • Which European country imported the most face masks?

    Which European country imported the most face masks?

    Comparing the first semester of 2019 with the first semester of 2020, the value of EU imports of face masks grew dramatically, from €800 million to €14 billion; an increase of 1800%, as Eurostat reports.

    In EU, Luxembourg, with a government policy of nationwide distribution of face masks, had by far the highest per capita imports of face masks at €121 per person.

    Belgium, Germany and France were the only other countries with imports above €50 per person. In contrast, imports were below €10 per person in Cyprus, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Greece and Bulgaria.

    China was the main EU partner for the import of face masks, supplying 92% of face masks in the first semester of 2020, up by 30 percentage points compared to the first semester 2019.

    With the exception of Hong Kong, the other top-6 EU import partners all lost market share. In the first semester of 2020, only Vietnam and Hong Kong supplied more than 1% of total EU face mask imports. The United Kingdom, Turkey and Tunisia all had a share of 0.7%.

  • Euro area unemployment at 8.1% in August 2020

    Euro area unemployment at 8.1% in August 2020

    In August 2020, the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate has continued to rise for 5 consecutive months, reaching 8.1%.

    The same trend has applied to the EU unemployment rate that reached 7.4% in August, show the latest figures published by Eurostat.

    Eurostat estimates that 15.603 million men and women in the EU, of whom 13.188 million in the euro area, were unemployed in August 2020.

    Compared with July 2020, the number of persons unemployed increased by 238.000 in the EU and by 251.000 in the euro area.

    In August 2020, 3.032 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.460 million were in the euro area. In August 2020, the youth unemployment rate was 17.6% in the EU and 18.1% in the euro area, up from 17.4% and 17.8% respectively in the previous month.

    Compared with July 2020, youth unemployment increased by 64.000 in the EU and by 69.000 in the euro area.

    In August 2020, the unemployment rate for women was 7.6% in the EU, up from 7.5% in July 2020.

    The unemployment rate for men was 7.1% in August 2020, stable compared with July 2020.

  • 98% of Romanian pupils learned more than two languages in school

    98% of Romanian pupils learned more than two languages in school

    In the EU, 48% of the pupils in upper secondary education studied more than two languages in 2018. This share was higher than 80% in Romania (98%), Finland (94%), the Flemish community of Belgium (84%) and Luxembourg (82%).

    On the other end of the ranking, in Greece, only 1% of the students in upper secondary education studied more than 2 languages in 2018, Eurostat shows.

    English is the most commonly studied foreign language in the EU

    Almost 87% of pupils learned English in upper secondary education in 2018. English was followed by French (19%), German and Spanish (both around 18%). 

    In 2018, in all EU Member States more than 65% of students enrolled in upper secondary education were learning English as a foreign language, with the exception of Denmark (57%).

    Russian was the most commonly non-EU language learned in 2018 (2%) especially in Latvia (48%), Estonia (44%), Bulgaria and Lithuania (both around 26%). 

  • Tourism services in EU down by 75% in June compared with February

    Tourism services in EU down by 75% in June compared with February

    In June 2020, the tourism services sector fell by 75.0 %. Travel agencies and tour operators fell the most (-83.6%), followed by air transport (-73.8%), accommodation (-66.4%) and restaurants (-38.4%).

    Due to the opening up of restaurants and similar establishments, a recovery was observed in June compared with April.

    The restaurant sector had the largest recovery, followed by the accommodation sector. Air transport had only a slight recovery, while the travel agencies and tour operators sector was on the same level in June as in April.

    The accommodation sector in the EU had a value added of EUR 79.0 billion in 2017, corresponding to a share of 1.3% of value added of the non-financial business economy.

    Restaurants had a value added of EUR 96.4 billion, with a share of 1.6%. The corresponding shares for employment were 1.9% and 4.0%.

    Air transport and travel agencies and tour operator activities had shares of 0.5% and 0.3% respectively of value added of the non-financial business economy. The share of employment for air transport was 0.2%.

  • Euro area unemployment registered a slight increase and sits at 7.9%

    Euro area unemployment registered a slight increase and sits at 7.9%

    In July 2020 the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 7.9%, up from 7.7% in June 2020.

    The EU unemployment rate was 7.2% in July 2020, up from 7.1% in June 2020, shows Eurostat.

    Eurostat estimates that 15.184 million men and women in the EU, of whom 12.793 million in the euro area, were unemployed in July 2020.

    Compared with June 2020, the number of persons unemployed increased by 336.000 in the EU and by 344.000 in the euro area.

    The unemployment rate for women was 7.5% in the EU, up from 7.3% in June 2020. The unemployment rate for men was 7.0% in July 2020, up from 6.8% in June 2020.

    In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women increased from 8.0% in June 2020 to 8.3% in July 2020 while it increased from 7.5% to 7.6% for men.