Archive:Sewerage statistics - NACE Rev. 2
- Data from April 2012. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article presents an overview of statistics for the sewerage sector in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 37. Sewerage and water supply are strongly related, with many enterprises offering both water supply and wastewater services, where sometimes the fees paid by users for water supply include the service of treating the resulting wastewater.
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Main statistical findings
Structural profile
There were 9 670 enterprises operating with sewerage (Division 37) as their main activity in the EU-27 in 2009. Together they employed 139.6 thousand persons and generated EUR 12 646 million of value added. This relatively small sector employed 0.1 % of the total number of persons employed in the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) and contributed 0.2 % of its total value added. Its share within water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (Section E) was 11.0 % in employment terms and 16.1 % in value added terms.
The apparent labour productivity of the EU-27's sewerage sector in 2009 was EUR 91 thousand per person employed, more than double the non-financial business economy average of EUR 41.6 thousand per person employed and also well above the water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities average (EUR 62 thousand per person employed). Despite this high apparent labour productivity, average personnel costs within the EU-27’s sewerage sector were only slightly elevated, at EUR 33.7 thousand per employee compared with a EUR 30.0 thousand per employee average for the non-financial business economy and a EUR 31.5 thousand per employee average for water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities. As a result, the sewerage sector posted a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of 269.0 %, which was the sixth highest for any NACE division within the EU-27’s non-financial business economy in 2009, and far above the non-financial business economy average (138.8 %) and the water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities average (196.8 %).
The gross operating rate (the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) stood at 38.1 % for the EU-27’s sewerage sector in 2009, nearly four times as high as the average for the non-financial business economy (9.7 %) and close to double the water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities average (20.9 %). This was the second highest level of profitability (according to this measure) among the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy, lower only than that recorded for real estate activities (Division 68). It should be noted that this measure does not take account of depreciation or financial expenditure, which are typically higher in capital-intensive activities such as sewerage.
Country analysis
In employment terms, Germany recorded the highest share (27.7 %) of the EU-27 workforce within the sewerage sector in 2009, slightly ahead of Poland (23.7 %). The relative importance of the sewerage sector was highest in Poland, as it employed 0.4 % of the Polish non-financial business economy workforce in 2009, around four times the average for the EU-27. The next most specialised Member States (in employment terms) were Latvia (0.3 % of non-financial business economy employment), Germany and Cyprus (both 0.2 %). Generally the same Member States were also the most specialised in value added terms, although data is not available for Germany.
The high wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio recorded for the EU-27 in the sewerage sector in 2009 was pulled up by a very high ratio (484.1 %) for the United Kingdom and also by Austria, Cyprus and Denmark, where the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for the sewerage sector were more than 100 percentage points higher than national averages for the whole of the non-financial business economy.
A similar situation was observed for the gross operating rate, as the United Kingdom recorded a rate of 61.2 % which was the highest gross operating rate recorded in the United Kingdom in 2009 among all of the non-financial business economy NACE divisions; Latvia’s gross operating rate of 45.3 % was also the highest among all non-financial business economy NACE divisions in Latvia. Most Member States recorded gross operating rates for the sewerage sector that were above their non-financial business economy averages, the exceptions (among Member States with data available) were Ireland, the Netherlands and most notably Bulgaria where a negative rate was observed.
Data sources and availability
The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) which are disseminated annually. The series provides information for each Member State as well as a number of non-member countries at a detailed level according to the activity classification NACE. Data are available for a wide range of variables.
Context
This article presents an overview of statistics for the sewerage sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 37. This division includes the operation of sewer systems or sewage treatment facilities, the collecting and transporting of human or industrial wastewater from one or several users (as well as the collection of rain water) by means of sewerage networks, collectors, tanks and other means of transport (sewage vehicles and so on). Also included are the emptying and cleaning of cesspools and septic tanks, sinks and pits from sewage; the servicing of chemical toilets, treatment of wastewater by means of physical, chemical and biological processes like dilution, screening, filtering, sedimentation and so on, maintenance and the cleaning of sewers and drains.
This division contains one group and one class only and so there is no analysis of subsectors in this article.
The decontamination of surface water and groundwater at the place of pollution (part of remediation and other waste management services, Division 39) is excluded.
Further Eurostat information
Publications
Main tables
Database
- SBS - industry and construction (sbs_ind_co)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - industry and construction (sbs_na_ind)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics for industry (NACE Rev.2 B-E) (sbs_na_ind_r2)
- Preliminary results on industry and construction, main indicators (NACE Rev.2) (sbs_na_r2preli)
- SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics broken down by size classes - industry and construction (sbs_sc_ind)
- Industry broken down by employment size classes (NACE Rev.2 B-E) (sbs_sc_ind_r2)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - industry and construction (sbs_na_ind)
- SBS - regional data - all activities (sbs_r)
- SBS data by NUTS 2 regions and NACE Rev.2, from 2008 onwards (sbs_r_nuts06_r2)
Dedicated section
Source data for tables, figures and maps (MS Excel)
Other information
- Regulation 58/1997 of 20 December 1996 concerning structural business statistics
- Decision 2367/2002/EC of 16 December 2002 on the Community statistical programme 2003 to 2007
- Regulation 295/2008 of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics