European Commission

Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs 

grow-postal-statistics@ec.europa.eu

The data in this domain is collected by DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs in the context of the annual "Survey on Postal Statistics" (voluntary data collection).

The partners in the data collection are the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) in the participating countries.

The list of indicators/questionnaires and the definitions (Glossary) are agreed and reviewd in cooperation with the National Postal Regulators in an annual regulatory meeting.

The data presented cover the companies operating under the Universal Service obligation (Universal Service Providers - USP) as well as non-USPs active in the postal sector where indicated.

The collection of 'Postal Services' includes data on employment, turnover, access points, postal traffic (letter and parcel), prices and quality of service.

Historical Data (2011 and backwards) were managed by Eurostat.

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postal services

The dataset provides information on the following indicators:

Offices and postal agencies - total: provides the number of offices where customers may access all postal services. It includes both mobile and fixed offices.

Offices and postal agencies - fixed offices/outlets with full services: provides the number of all permanent offices to which in principle customers may access all postal services including sorting offices offering similar kinds of services.

Offices and postal agencies - fixed offices/outlets without full services: provides the number of other post offices agencies or outlets where a reduced range of services is offered. Those offices may have reduced opening times for the public. They may be owned by a postal operator or they may be franchised.

Offices and postal agencies - mobile post offices: provides the number of post offices that are either set up in a train, in a road transport vehicle or in a boat and serve regions without permanent post offices. This category also includes rural delivery personnel which provide services similar to the counter services of a post office (not just delivery).

Letter-boxes:  provides the number of letter boxes provided for the public either on the public highway or at the premises of a Universal Service Provider, where postal items may be deposited in the public postal network by customers. It refers to the number of geographical points where letter boxes are located, i.e. where several letter-boxes are placed together at the same place, they are counted as one.

Post office boxes: provides the number of a facility available to users at their request where the mail is delivered to instead of their actual postal address. It is regarded as a temporary address for mail.

Domestic postal traffic, by USP and non-USP - letter-post: provides the number of domestic letter mail items handled by all postal operators in the country of reference. Letter mail services refer to the clearance, sorting, transport and delivery, or to services not significantly different from these, originated and delivered in each country of reference. The number includes both 1st and 2nd class services. It excludes parcels and unaddressed mail.

Domestic postal traffic, by USP under direct or indirect designation - letter-post: provides the number of domestic letter mail items handled by the Universal Service Providers in each country of reference.

Domestic postal traffic, by USP under direct or indirect designation - ordinary parcels up to 10/20Kg: provides the number of parcel items sent by a standard/ordinary service, i.e. non-express and non-courier, handled by the designated Universal Service Providers in each county of reference. Ordinary parcel traffic is distinct from traffic from transportation freight respectively in consideration upper weight limits, and from letter mail traffic with respect to lower weight and size limits. The number includes small packet items in the cases where countries can isolate those volumes from the letter mail traffic.

International letter mail - total:  provides the number of inbound international letter mail items handled by all postal service providers in the country of reference. Outbound international mail is excluded. The number includes both 1st and 2nd class services.

International letter mail - by USP under direct or indirect designation: provides the number of international letter mail items handled by the Universal Service Providers in each country of reference.

International courier express and parcel - by USP under direct or indirect designation: ordinary parcels up to 10/20 kg:  provides the number of inbound international parcel items sent by a standard/ordinary service, i.e. non-express and non-courier, handled by the designated Universal Service Providers in each county of reference.

Persons employed by universal service providers (USP) - HeadCount: gives the number of total persons employed by the Universal Service Providers in order to provide postal services within the economic territory of country of reference. It excludes staff working exclusively in other activities (e.g. financial services). It includes persons absent for a definite period of time (e.g. maternity leave). The number is reported as an average of each reference year.

Turnover from domestic postal services - total: provides the total turnover generated for sales of universal postal services in the country of reference. It refers to turnover from services supplied to third parties that is reported in the annual regulatory accounts of the designated USP(s) and of operators providing services within the universal service area. It includes duties and taxes invoiced, with the exception of VAT, as well as all relevant charges invoiced to the customer. Receipts from foreign operators are also included. Reduction in prices and discounts are deducted. It excludes other operating income, financial income and extra ordinary income as well as operating subsidies from public authorities.

Price of a standard letter (1st class), less than 20 g, by USP under direct or indirect designation - domestic letter service: The price refers to a universal domestic Letter, first class, weighting less than 20gr provided by the Universal Service Provider in each country of reference. It is reported in Euros. Prices are indicated at the value they had on the 1st of July, for each year of reference. 

Price of a standard letter (1st class), less than 20 g, by USP under direct or indirect designation - intra-EU letter service: The price refers to a universal international Letter, first class, weighting less than 20gr provided by the Universal Service Provider in each country of reference. It is reported in Euros. Prices are indicated at the value they had on the 1st of July, for each year of reference

Domestic service: % of letters (fastest service) delivered on-time: provides an estimate of the quality of domestic postal service provided by the USP related to transit times in (D + n)% when D represents the date of deposit, and n represents the number of working days which elapse between the date of deposit (D) and the date of delivery to the addressee. The indicator gives the percentage of letters delivered on time according to the national performance indicator.

The universal service providers and the providers of letter mail services in each country of reference

The universal service providers and the providers of letter mail services in the postal sector in each country of reference

EU Member States, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Iceland and Norway and Switzerland.

Annual time series are available from 2012 onwards.

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Data on employment and access points is expressed in number.

Data on turnover is expressed in Million of euro; data on "Prices" is expressed in euro. 

Data on postal traffic is expressed in thousands. 

Data on quality of service is expressed in percentages.

Data refer to the calendar year.

The Community framework for EU postal services is set out in Directive 97/67/EC as amended by Directive 2002/39/EC and as amended by Directive 2008/06/EC (3rd Postal Directive).

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National rules on confidentiality are respected. Common Principles for confidentiality are agreed with the National Regulatory Authorities.

not applicable

Data are disseminated in the third quarter each year, with possible revisions in the fourth quarter.

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In line with the Community legal framework DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs disseminates postal statistics on its website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably.

Yearly

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The data have been published in the Application Report of the Postal Directive at the following address: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/postal-services

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The Glossary with the definitions of the variables and the questionnaires are available in the Annex

The Glossary with the definitions of the variables provides guidelines for the data collection. When countries are providing DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs with information on the deviations from these definitions, the data are flaged as "d"

Common guidelines for the methodology are provided to the participating countries (Glossary with definiton of variables). Data is validated using interviews with data providers, manual procedures and to some extent automated procedures.

Common guidelines for the methodology are available (Glossary with definiton of variables); manual and automated procedures are used to validate the data at DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

However, data is less complete for some variables, there is a relatively high number of confidential data, limited availability of metadata and limited knowledge on coherence with other statistics on similar subjects, espacially as regards parcel services and in general services beyong the USO.

Closer cooperation with the NRAs is envisaged to streamline the work in the future in order to assist in the fulfilment of the objectives of the EU postal market.

The data present the main developments in the USP postal sector of the participating countries and serve as input for the European Commission's market monitoring of the postal sector.

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Very good completeness (> 90%) for data on employment, turnover, offices open to public and postal agencies, letter-boxes, prices and quality of service for the USPs;

Data less complete for postal traffic (especially on parcels and for letter mail traffic generated from non-USPs) and certain types of access points.

Data is collected via the postal providers. Accuracy depends on the quality reporting by the postal providers, which are provided with the Glossary on definitions and instructions on how to fill in the questionnaires.

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Data is validated using automated and manual procedures - see section 12.1 above.

Data are delivered to Eurostat 10 months after the end of the reference year and are disseminated in the third quarter, with possible revisions in the fourth quarter.

Most of the data are delivered on time.

Comparability across countries depends on the national methodologies applied. Countries are providing DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs with information on the deviations from the standard definitions, if any.

Comparability over time depends on the national methodologies applied. Countries are providing DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs with information on the break in series, if any. 

When there is a break in the series at a EC Level, the data are appropriately flaged

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No information available

EU aggregates are compiled when the available countries represent 60% of the population and 55% of the number of countries defining the aggregate. When further national data becomes available, this is automatically included in the existing aggregate. Hence EU aggregates may change due to the arrival of further data over and above the 60%-55% rule.

EU aggregates include confidential information provided that certain rules on confidenitality apply, i.e.:

•Rule 1: if only 1 or 2 countries requested confidentiality, EU aggregates will not be caluclated

•Rule 2: if 3 or more requested confidentiality, but 2 of them > 85% of the confidentiality cluster, EU aggregates will not be caluclated

If after data validations performed by DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs inconsistencies in the data set are found, reporting countries may be asked to revise the results.

Reporting countries may also update their own results, on demand.

The National Regulatory Authorities in each country are collecting the data from the postal operators via the questionnaires provided by DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

Annually

Annually

Input national data is validated by DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (relationship between variables, completeness, comparison over time) using a manual and automated procedure. If necessary, the data is returned to the countries for further examination.

EU aggregates are compiled when the available countries represent 60% of the population and 55% of the number of countries defining the aggregate. No estimations are made for missing data, except if provided by the reporting countries.

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Please visit the links in the Annex below.

Questionnaire on Postal Statistics, version 2018
Glossary on Postal Statistics, version 2018