The European economy
since the start
of the millennium

Since the start of the millennium, the European economy has evolved and statistics can help to better perceive these structural changes.

This digital publication The European economy since the start of the millennium — a statistical portrait aims to show how main features of the economy of the European Union and its Member States have evolved since 2000 through a large range of statistical data giving both a micro- and a macro-economic perspective.

This publication does not describe the short-term trends of the European economy, but its purpose is to answer questions such as: How has our consumption behaviour changed? How has household income evolved? Are working patterns still the same? What is the share of services in the economy? What is the proportion of large enterprises? Has government employment increased or decreased?

This 2020 edition only describes the situation up to the year 2019 at the most. As a consequence, the first findings of any COVID-19 related implications will only be possible in the next edition of the publication. For information on short-term indicators including COVID-19 related implications, please see our dedicated website section.

The publication is divided into four parts focusing on specific areas:

• The whole economy: the publication starts with the main characteristics of the whole economy by showing long term trends for GDP, investment and consumption, trade, inflation, unemployment, employment, etc.
• Households: this chapter informs about main developments in household income and spending. For instance, you can see where your income is situated compared with others in your country. It also shows how much households spend on different goods and services and how household's savings and debts have evolved.
• Businesses: this part presents the demography of enterprises in the economy. It also shows the evolution of investment, debt and profitability of enterprises. Furthermore, it includes a section dedicated to banks.
• Government: this chapter presents the evolution of government expenditure, revenue, deficit and debt. It also shows the place of the government sector in the economy in terms of employment.

Throughout the publication, brief descriptions of the main findings are completed with interactive visualisations, where you can compare your country with other countries. This publication is aimed at those who would like to have an overview of the economic trends in the EU since 2000 in an easy and interactive way. Where available, data for the United Kingdom and EFTA countries are included. For those who would like to get a deeper insight, links are included to the database of Eurostat.