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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 Updated: Social protection statistics This article analyses recent statistics on social protection in the European Union (EU). Social protection encompasses interventions from public or private bodies intended to relieve households and individuals of the burden of a defined set of risks or needs, provided that there is neither a simultaneous reciprocal nor an individual arrangement involved. More ... Updated: Gender pay gap statistics This article shows how gender inequalities in terms of pay vary widely among the Member States of the European Union (EU) and among groups of employees. The unadjusted gender pay pap (GPG) is an important indicator used within the European employment strategy (EES) to monitor imbalances in wages between men and women. It is defined as the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of men and women expressed as a percentage of the average gross hourly earnings of men. More ... New: Services trade by enterprise characteristics - STEC What do we know about the enterprises that trade in services from one economy to another? What is the impact of trade in services on employment in a world of interconnected economies? This article aims to describe the universe of service traders, by focusing on enterprise level data and providing a closer view of the traders' characteristics such as: size (the number of employees), ownership (foreign-controlled or domestic) and economic activity. More ... Updated: Fishery statistics in detail This article is part of a set of statistical articles based on the Eurostat publication Agriculture, forestry and fishery statistics. It gives an overview of recent statistics relating to fishing fleets, fish catches, landings and aquaculture production in the European Union (EU). Fish are a natural, biological, mobile (sometimes over long distances) and renewable resource. Aside from fish farming, fish are generally not owned until they have been caught. More ... Updated: Road freight transport statistics This article presents the main trends in road freight transport up to 2013 in the European Union (EU). The analysis is carried out for national, international, cross-trade as well as cabotage transport. Road freight transport by distance classes and the competitiveness of road freight transport are topics also presented in this article. More ... Updated: Europe 2020 indicators - research and development This article is part of a set of statistical articles based on the Eurostat publication Smarter, greener, more inclusive? - Indicators to support the Europe 2020 strategy. It provides recent statistics on research, development and innovation in the European Union (EU), key areas of the EU's Europe 2020 strategy. Having more innovative products and services on the market addresses two objectives of the strategy’s smart growth objective: job creation through increased industrial competitiveness, labour productivity and the efficient use of resources; and finding solutions to societal challenges such as climate change and clean energy, security, and active and healthy ageing. More ... Updated: Energy from renewable sources This article presents a detailed statistical overview of the production and consumption of energy from renewable sources in the European Union (EU). It is based on data compiled in accordance with accounting rules set down in the Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. The statistical information presented in this article is coherent with statistical information reported under Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 on energy statistics. More ...

Today's article Balance of payment statistics The balance of payments records all economic transactions between resident and non-resident entities during a given period. This article presents data on the current and financial accounts of the balance of payments for the European Union (EU) and its Member States. The current account balance determines the exposure of an economy to the rest of the world, whereas the capital and financial account explains how it is financed. An article on foreign direct investment provides more information on one component of the financial account, while an article on international trade in services focuses on one component of the current account. Main statistical findings Current account The current account surplus of the EU-28 was EUR 155 700 million in 2013 (see Figure 1), corresponding to 1.2 % of gross domestic product (GDP). This can be contrasted with data for 2012, when the current account surplus was EUR 68 600 million. The latest developments for the EU-28’s current account showed a continuation of the pattern established in 2009: the current account deficit peaked in 2008 at 2.2 % of GDP; progressively smaller deficits were recorded between 2009 and 2011, turning to a surplus equivalent to 0.5 % of GDP in 2012. The current account surplus for 2013 comprised a deficit for current transfers (-0.6 % of GDP) with surpluses in the current accounts for goods (0.2 % of GDP), services (1.3 %) and the income account (0.3 %) — see Table 2. More ...