Main Page

Welcome to Statistics Explained Statistics Explained, your guide to European statistics. Statistics Explained is an official Eurostat website presenting all statistical topics in an easily understandable way. Together, the articles make up everyone's encyclopedia of European statistics, completed by a statistical glossary clarifying all terms used and by numerous links to further information and the very latest data and metadata, a portal for occasional and regular users alike. To find the information you need, use the hierarchical theme tree, the online publications, the categories or the search function (alt-f).

New New: Tourism statistics - intra-EU tourism flows This article is part of the Eurostat online publication Tourism trips of Europeans, providing recent statistics on tourism demand in the European Union (EU) and EFTA countries. Three types of tourism flows can be distinguished: domestic tourism (persons making tourism trips within their country of residence), outbound tourism and inbound tourism. More ... Statistics in focus: Internet and cloud services - statistics on the use by individuals This article presents an overview of the findings of the 2014 ‘Survey on ICT (information and communication technology) usage in households and by individuals’. It takes a closer look at individuals' internet and mobile internet use in the EU and a set of newly released indicators relating to the use of cloud services. More ... New: Statistics on enforcement of immigration legislation This article presents the European Union (EU) indicators on the enforcement of immigration legislation (EIL). It provides statistics on non-EU citizens refused entry at external borders, apprehended as being illegally present or subject to an obligation to leave the territory of an EU Member State. The indicators in this article can be regarded as an official record of persons subject to enforcement of immigration legislation, providing a general overview of the outcomes of territorial surveillance and control procedures. More ... Updated: Asylum quarterly report This article describes recent developments in relation to numbers of asylum applicants and first instance decisions on asylum applications in the European Union (EU). Asylum is a form of international protection given by a state on its territory. It is granted to a person who is unable to seek protection in his/her country of citizenship and/or residence, in particular for fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. More ... Updated: Labour cost index - recent trends The labour cost index (LCI) shows the short-term development of the labour cost, the total cost on an hourly basis of employing labour. In other words, the LCI measures the cost pressure arising from the production factor “labour”. This article takes a look at the most recent evolutions of the LCI, both at the level of the European Union (EU) and the Member States. More ... Updated: Business demography statistics This article presents statistical data on business demography in the European Union (EU), treating aspects such as the total number of active enterprises in the business economy, their birth rates, death rates, and the survival rate. In the business demography domain, the business economy covers sections B to N, excluding activities of holding companies – K64.2 (NACE Rev.2). More ... Updated: Biodiversity statistics Biodiversity — a contraction of biological diversity — encompasses the number, variety and variability of living organisms, including mankind. Given that humans depend on the natural richness of our planet for the food, energy, raw materials, clean air and clean water that make life possible and drive economies and societies, most commentators agree it is imperative that humans seek to prevent a loss of biodiversity, as a reduction or loss of biodiversity may not only undermine the natural environment but also economic and social goals. The challenges associated with preserving biodiversity have made this topic an international issue. This article examines two indicators for biodiversity in the European Union (EU) — namely, information on protected areas (for terrestrial and maritime areas) and bird populations. More ... Updated: Material flow accounts Eurostat’s material flow accounts are a comprehensive data framework that systematically records the inputs of materials to European economies, breaking them down by material category such as fossil energy materials, biomass, metal ores etc. More ...

Today's article Energy production and imports The dependency of the European Union (EU) on energy imports, particularly of oil and more recently of gas, forms the backdrop for policy concerns relating to the security of energy supplies. This article looks at the production of primary energy in the EU and, as a result of the shortfall between production and consumption, the EU’s increasing dependency on energy imports from non-member countries. Indeed, more than half (53.4 %) of the EU-28’s gross inland energy consumption in 2012 came from imported sources. Main statistical findings Primary production Production of primary energy in the EU-28 totalled 794.3 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) in 2012. This continued the generally downward trend observed in recent years, with 2010 the main exception as production rebounded after a relatively strong fall in 2009 that coincided with the financial and economic crisis. When viewed over a longer period, the production of primary energy in the EU-28 was 15.7 % lower in 2012 than it had been a decade earlier. The general downward trend of EU-28 production may, at least in part, be attributed to supplies of raw materials becoming exhausted and/or producers considering the exploitation of limited resources uneconomical. The highest level of primary energy production among the EU Member States was in France, with a 16.8 % share of the EU-28 total, followed by Germany (15.6 %) and the United Kingdom (14.6 %). Compared with a decade earlier the main change was the fall in the share of the United Kingdom, down from 27.1 % — see Table 1. The only other Member States whose shares fell over this period were Denmark (-0.6 percentage points) and Lithuania (-0.4 percentage points). In absolute terms, the largest expansions in the production of primary energy during the 10 years to 2012 were registered in Italy and Sweden (both up 4.4 million toe), and the Netherlands (up 4.3 million toe). More ...