European Union

1. How has the European Union grown?

The EU’s largest expansion came in 2004, when ten countries joined at once. Eight were in Central and Eastern Europe, alongside Cyprus and Malta, making this a decisive step beyond the divisions of the Cold War. Earlier enlargements had brought in northern countries and then southern European democracies. Croatia’s accession in 2013 took membership to 28; the United Kingdom’s departure in 2020 brought it back to 27. Enlargement therefore tells two connected stories: the attraction of joining a shared political and economic system, and the challenge of governing a union with increasingly varied national interests. The founding date here refers to the European Economic Community, a predecessor of today’s EU.

Sources: Council of the EU — accession timeline. Membership milestones 1958–2020. The 1958 event is the start of the EEC; the EU itself dates from 1993. Founding Germany refers to West Germany. Germany’s 1990 reunification enlarged the covered territory but did not add a member state.

2. How do living standards compare across the EU?

■ Below 80   ■ 80–89   ■ 90–99   ■ 100–109   ■ 110–119   ■ 120+   ; grey: outside EU. EU = 100. Small-state markers are enlarged.

Luxembourg’s consumption per person was 41% above the EU average in 2024, while Hungary’s was 28% below it. The Netherlands and Germany also stood well above the average, but much of southern and eastern Europe remained below. The gaps are substantial, although smaller than the differences in GDP per person. Ireland illustrates why that matters: its GDP is unusually high, while consumption per person is close to the EU average. Multinational production and profits can raise measured output without increasing household living standards by the same amount. Consumption also includes services supplied to households by government, making public healthcare and education part of this comparison.

Sources: Eurostat — actual individual consumption (prc_ppp_ind); Natural Earth — country boundaries. 2024 actual individual consumption per person, volume index in purchasing-power standards; EU27_2020 = 100. Includes household consumption and individual services provided by government/non-profits. Not income or cash spending. Map is illustrative; Cyprus uses the source’s statistical coverage, and overseas territories are outside this map viewport.

3. Which countries make up the EU economy?

Germany, France, Italy and Spain account for much of the EU’s economic weight. Their large domestic markets and populations help explain their prominence, alongside differences in productivity and industrial structure. Smaller countries can still be exceptionally prosperous per resident, but they occupy much smaller portions of total EU output. That distinction helps explain why a country can lead a living-standards comparison without dominating the union’s overall economy. Economic concentration also matters politically: changes in demand or production in the largest economies can spread through suppliers and export markets elsewhere in the EU. These are economic sizes, rather than a ranking of household prosperity.

Sources: Eurostat — GDP (nama_10_gdp). 2024 GDP at current market prices, € million, converted to € billion. Shares use the sum of the 27 member-state observations; this may differ slightly from the separately compiled EU aggregate. Not purchasing-power-adjusted.

4. Where does the EU budget go?

Cohesion, agriculture and the environment occupy a large part of EU spending, reflecting the union’s longstanding roles in supporting less prosperous regions and financing agricultural policy. The pandemic recovery programme added a major temporary layer through NextGenerationEU. Its changing annual payments help explain why total spending fluctuates even when the underlying long-term priorities remain broadly similar. Recovery disbursements depend on programme schedules and implementation, so a lower payment in one year need not mean that a policy has been abandoned. Research, digital investment and external relations form smaller but distinct parts of the picture. This is the EU budget: national governments separately finance most public services and defence expenditure.

Sources: European Commission — EU spending and revenue, 2000–2025. Payments, 2021–2025, nominal euros. Commission workbook: top-level policy headings in the main expenditure section. NGEU is subtracted from each heading and shown as a separate mutually exclusive component. Includes geographically unallocated and external expenditure; NGEU loans are outside this grant-expenditure comparison.

5. How much do countries contribute to—and receive from—the EU budget?

The largest economies generally make the biggest national contributions because the financing system depends heavily on national income. Spending follows a different geography: regional development, agriculture, research projects and recovery programmes distribute money according to policy objectives and eligibility. Belgium and Luxembourg also receive expenditure associated with hosting EU institutions, so their totals are not simply transfers to local households. Switching to a per-person view reveals how country size changes the comparison. The bars describe financial flows through selected budget channels, not the overall value of membership. Access to the single market, cross-border investment and shared programmes can create benefits that cannot be assigned to a country in this accounting comparison.

Sources: European Commission — EU spending and revenue, 2000–2025; Eurostat — population by age and sex (demo_pjan). 2024, € million converted to € billion or divided by 1 January 2024 population. National contributions = own resources + balances/adjustments − customs duties (sugar levies are zero). Allocated spending = country columns of TOTAL EXPENDITURE plus country columns of TOTAL NGEU, shown separately. Main expenditure country columns exclude centrally recorded earmarked expenditure. Includes administration; excludes unallocated expenditure and NGEU loans. This is not an official net-balance calculation or a complete membership cost-benefit account. Values displayed left are contributions, not negative payments.

6. Are poorer EU countries catching up?

Romania moved from 55% to 77% of average EU GDP per person between 2014 and 2024, while Bulgaria rose from 48% to 66%. Croatia and Poland also narrowed the gap. Integration into European production networks, investment and improvements in productivity can support this kind of convergence. Catching up is not automatic, however: Greece and Slovakia finished below their earlier relative positions. A fall relative to the EU average does not necessarily mean that output per person fell in absolute terms; other countries may simply have grown faster. Ireland and Luxembourg require particular care because multinational activity and cross-border workers can make GDP per resident a poor guide to typical household living standards.

Sources: Eurostat — GDP per person in PPS (tec00114). 2014 and 2024 GDP per person in PPS, EU27_2020 = 100 in each year. Today’s 27 members throughout; relative indices do not measure absolute growth. Cross-border workers and multinational accounting particularly affect Luxembourg and Ireland.

7. How much do EU countries trade with one another?

The single market is especially important to the exports of Luxembourg, Czechia and Slovakia, where roughly four-fifths of goods exports went to other EU countries in 2024. Central European manufacturing is closely linked to production networks that cross several borders before a finished product reaches its buyer. Ireland and Cyprus show a different pattern, with much larger extra-EU shares. Industrial specialisation, company structures and geography all help shape these differences. A high intra-EU share does not necessarily mean a country exports more overall; it tells us where its goods go. Services, including finance, tourism and digital activities, can produce a substantially different trading picture.

Sources: Eurostat — intra-EU goods trade (tet00037). 2024 goods exports: share sent to the other EU27 member states. Extra-EU share = 100 minus intra-EU share. Services excluded. Destination shares do not measure exports as a share of GDP.

8. How has the EU’s electricity mix changed?

The EU’s electricity system has changed dramatically since 2000. Coal generation fell sharply, while wind and solar expanded from small starting points into major sources of power. Nuclear remains important despite producing less electricity than at the beginning of the period. Renewable deployment has been supported by falling technology costs, policy incentives and investment in new capacity. The yearly pattern is not smooth: rainfall affects hydropower, wind conditions change output, and outages can reduce nuclear generation. These swings help explain why fossil-fuel generation sometimes rebounds temporarily even during a longer transition. The result is a much more varied electricity mix, with a growing need for flexible demand, storage and interconnected grids.

Sources: Eurostat — electricity generation (nrg_bal_peh). 2000–2024 gross electricity generation, fixed EU27_2020 aggregate; GWh converted to TWh. Hydro uses RA100. Other renewables = RA000 minus hydro, wind and solar; other sources = total minus the seven named components. Storage output and non-renewable minor fuels fall in the residual where included by the source. Gross generation is not electricity consumption or total energy use.

9. How is the EU’s population ageing?

The population’s centre of gravity has shifted towards older ages. Large cohorts that were in their thirties and forties in 2004 had moved into their fifties and sixties by 2024, while the youngest age groups remained comparatively narrow. Longer lives and sustained low birth rates both contribute to ageing. Women increasingly outnumber men in the oldest groups, reflecting differences in survival. This changing balance affects demand for healthcare, pensions, housing and workers, although outcomes also depend on employment rates, productivity and migration. Ageing is therefore more than a story about the number of pensioners: it changes the relationship between generations and the services societies need.

Sources: Eurostat — population by age and sex (demo_pjan). 1 January 2004 and 2024, fixed EU27_2020 coverage. Each sex/age cell as a share of the whole population. Ages 0–84 grouped into five-year bands; 85+ calculated from each sex total minus known under-85 ages and unknown ages. This avoids incompatible open-ended age categories in older data. Men shown left, women right; both tooltips report positive population shares.

10. How do people feel about the European Union?

■ Negative   ■ Neutral   ■ Positive   ■ Don’t know. Neutral responses straddle the centre; rounded totals are not rescaled.

Portugal, Ireland and Denmark were among the most positive countries towards the EU in spring 2025. Czechia and Cyprus recorded much lower positive shares, but large neutral groups are an important part of their results. Across the EU, 43% held a positive image, 38% a neutral image and 18% a negative image. National experiences of economic change, political debate and the perceived usefulness of European cooperation can all influence these views, although this survey does not isolate their effects. A neutral response should not be read as opposition, and a favourable image does not imply agreement with every EU policy. The differences show that public attitudes are more nuanced than a simple pro- or anti-EU divide.

Sources: European Commission — Standard Eurobarometer 103, spring 2025, Volume A, D78. Standard Eurobarometer 103.3, 26 March–22 April 2025; EU citizens aged 15+ in the survey’s eligible resident population. Volume A D78, published aggregate positive/neutral/negative/don’t-know percentages. Rounded totals may be 99–101%; dashes in published percentage cells represent 0% at displayed precision. No rescaling. Neutral is centred and split visually; it is counted only once.

11. How has European Parliament election turnout changed?

Darker blue = higher rate; scale 0–100%. Exact values appear on selection. Grey = unavailable.

European election participation varies widely across countries, and some of those differences persist over several elections. Belgium and Luxembourg regularly record high turnout in the context of compulsory voting, while participation has often been much lower in parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Poland’s strong increase in 2019 stands out against its earlier low levels, illustrating how mobilisation and political salience can change. Concurrent national elections and domestic political contests can also influence attendance at the polls. Turnout is therefore a measure of participation, not a direct measure of support for the EU: both supporters and critics may be motivated to vote.

Sources: European Parliament — official election datasets. Official European Parliament turnout series, regular elections 1979–2024. Today’s 27 member states; earlier non-membership is blank. Separate accession-year elections omitted. Historical rates preserved at source precision; visible cell labels rounded to whole percentages. Compulsory voting and concurrent elections affect cross-country comparisons.

12. How has the political balance in Parliament changed?

The two largest parliamentary traditions, the centre-right EPP and the socialists, together held close to two-thirds of seats in 2004. By 2024 their combined share was 45%, making broader alliances increasingly important. Liberal and green groups have fluctuated, while conservative and other right-wing groups occupy a larger part of the later picture. New groups and changing party affiliations mean this is not simply a story of voters moving between fixed blocs. Nevertheless, the wider pattern is clear: parliamentary representation has become more fragmented. The practical consequence is that passing legislation often requires cooperation among several groups, and the coalition supporting one proposal may differ from the coalition supporting another.

Sources: European Parliament — official election datasets. Constitutive Parliament after the 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024 elections. Seat shares calculated from official seat counts. EPP-ED/EPP, PSE/S&D, ALDE/Renew, Greens/EFA names and GUE/NGL/The Left grouped as labelled historical families; affiliations and membership changed. UEN, IND/DEM, EFD, EFDD, ID, PfE and ESN retained as distinct groups, with zero where absent. Areas connect election snapshots, not exact dates of group formation. 2019 includes UK MEPs; denominators vary.

13. Where is unemployment highest—and how has it changed?

Darker blue = higher rate; scale 0–30%. Exact values appear on selection. Grey = unavailable.

The financial and euro-area crises left a particularly deep unemployment imprint in Greece and Spain. Their elevated rates persisted well beyond the initial downturn, illustrating how weak demand and damaged labour markets can have lasting effects. Several Central European countries later moved towards much lower unemployment, while the pandemic created a different pattern from the earlier crisis. Job-retention schemes helped preserve employment relationships in many countries, so reduced working hours did not always translate directly into unemployment. Even at the end of the period, national differences remain considerable. Low unemployment can indicate a strong labour market, but it can also coexist with labour shortages, population decline or low participation.

Sources: Eurostat — annual unemployment (une_rt_a). Annual unemployment rates 2009–2024, ages 15–74, both sexes, % of labour force. Current member-state set throughout. Survey redesigns, including the 2021 EU Labour Force Survey changes, can cause breaks; source flags are retained in the accompanying source extracts. Not a percentage of all residents.

14. What drives population change: births, deaths or migration?

Deaths exceeded births in most member states in 2024, yet many still gained population because net migration offset that natural decrease. Spain, Portugal and several smaller economies show how strongly migration can shape annual growth. Bulgaria and Latvia had especially large natural decreases, while Ireland and Cyprus combined natural increase with positive net migration. These patterns reflect different age structures, birth rates and migration histories. They also show why population ageing and population decline are not the same thing: a country can age while its total population continues to grow. Migration can ease labour shortages, but rapid population growth can also increase pressure on housing and local services.

Sources: Eurostat — demographic balance (demo_gind). 2024 natural change and net migration plus statistical adjustment, per 1,000 average residents. Natural change = births minus deaths. The migration component includes balancing adjustments and must not be interpreted as a pure count of border crossings. Components are published rounded values.

15. Who are the EU’s largest trading partners?

The United States and China occupy very different positions in the EU’s goods trade. The US is a particularly important export destination, while China is a major source of imports. The United Kingdom and Switzerland remain substantial partners despite being outside the EU, reflecting geography and longstanding commercial relationships. Norway’s role is strongly connected to energy, while Türkiye participates in manufacturing supply chains linked to the European market. These relationships expose the EU to different risks, from changes in foreign demand to disruptions in essential supplies. Goods trade is only part of the relationship: adding services would alter both the size and balance of trade with several partners.

Sources: Eurostat — external goods trade (ext_lt_maineu). 2024 goods exports/imports, € million converted to € billion. Ten largest external country/territory partners by exports plus imports: US, China excluding Hong Kong, UK, Switzerland, Türkiye, Norway, Japan, South Korea, India and Brazil. Same comparison set in both views; ranking based on combined trade, not the top ten independently for each direction. Services excluded; imports include freight/insurance while exports use the export valuation basis.