Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

C1: National accounts methodology; Standards and indicators

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

With most EU Member States participating in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), infra-annual economic statistics for the euro area and the European Union as a whole are of great importance for collective and private decision-making. The momentum of the EU economies, in particular the euro area economy, has to be assessed continuously.

The special domain of ‘Euro-indicators and Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs)’ is dedicated to infra-annual economic statistics such as consumer prices, national accounts, balance of payments, external trade, industry, trade and services, labour market, as well as a selection of monetary and financial indicators of the European Central Bank (ECB) and business and consumer survey results from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN).

A dedicated section on Eurostat’s website provides more information about the domain and gives access to the related datasets in Eurostat’s online database. Data are available for the euro area, the European Union and for individual countries.

There are nine topics within the domain, each one of which has specific metadata:

• Balance of payments: ei_bp_esms
• Business and consumers surveys: ei_bcs_esms
• Consumer prices: ei_cp_esms
• Housing prices: prc_hpi_inx_esms (metadata of the source dataset)
• Industry, trade and services: ei_is_esms
• International trade: ei_et_esms
• Labour market: une_rt_m_esms, lci_esms, jvs_esms (metadata of the source dataset)
• Monetary and financial indicators: ei_mf_esms
• National accounts: ei_qna_esms

With the exception of the results from business and consumer surveys, all Euro indicators and PEEIs are based on other datasets of Eurostat. The metadata files per topic contain links to the metadata files of the source datasets.

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

Euro area, European Union, EU Member States, candidate countries, EFTA countries, United States and Japan.

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics.

Specific information on legislation can be found in metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below) and in the dedicated sections for some of the topics on Eurostat’s website, under the heading ‘Legislation’:

• Legislation related to Balance of payments
• Legislation related to Consumer prices (HICP) 
• Legislation related to Housing prices
• Legislation related to Industry, trade and services (short-term business statistics)
• Legislation related to International trade 
• Legislation related to Labour market (job vacancies, labour costs)
• Legislation related to Unemployment 
• Legislation related to National accounts
• Legislation related to Government finance statistics
• Legislation related to Sector accounts

Prior to its release to the public, specific data are forwarded routinely to the European Central Bank (ECB) for their internal use. ECB respects the embargo according to the news release calendar.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164) on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

According to policy rules (see section 7.1).

A Euro indicator release calendar is published on Eurostat’s website. National data are published by the National Statistical Institutes (NSI) following national dissemination calendars. Please consult NSI’s websites to get national dissemination calendar (links are provided on Eurostat’s website). National data are published by Eurostat immediately after their reception.

Euro indicator release calendar

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat’s website (see principle 10 – ‘Accessibility and Clarity’), respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by Eurostat’s protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Euro indicators and PEEIs are released on a monthly or quarterly basis. For individual series, see metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

News releases are published on Eurostat’s website.

The dedicated section for Euro indicators and PEEIs on Eurostat’s website contains links to related publications. This includes Statistics Explained articles, euro indicators news, statistical publications, working papers, and the yearly EFS Status Report.

Selected data are published in the monthly article Eurostatistics - data for short-term economic analysis on Statistics Explained and in the Euro indicators dashboard.

Specific publications can be found in metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below) and in the dedicated sections for some of the topics on Eurostat’s website, under the heading ‘Publications’:

• Publications related to Balance of payments
• Publications related to Consumer prices (HICP) 
• Publications related to Housing prices
• Publications related to Industry, trade and services (short-term business statistics)
• Publications related to International trade 
• Publications related to Labour market (job vacancies, labour costs)
• Publications related to Unemployment (LFS)
• Publications related to National accounts
• Publications related to Government finance statistics

Data are available in Eurostat’s database as either selected datasets or detailed datasets.

• ‘Selected datasets’ offer a selection of the most important data in a user-friendly way. All data are presented in simple two or three dimensional tables.
• ‘Detailed datasets’ contains the full range of data publically available. They are presented in multi-dimensional tables with various selection features and export formats.

Many Euro indicators and PEEIs are also presented in the Euro indicators dashboard on Eurostat’s website.

None.

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

Specific information on methodology can be found in metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below) and in the dedicated sections for some of the topics on Eurostat’s website, under the heading ‘Methodology’:

• Methodology related to Balance of payments
• Methodology related to Consumer prices (HICP) 
• Methodology related to Housing prices
• Methodology related to Industry, trade and services (short-term business statistics)
• Methodology related to International trade 
• Methodology related to Labour market (job vacancies, labour costs)
• Methodology related to Unemployment (LFS)
• Methodology related to National accounts
• Methodology related to Government finance statistics
• Methodology related to Sector accounts

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

Specific information on quality assurance can be found in metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below) and in the dedicated sections for some of the topics on Eurostat’s website, under the heading ‘Quality’:

• Quality related to Consumer prices (HICP)
• Quality related to Industry, trade and services (short-term business statistics)
• Quality related to International trade
• Quality related to Unemployment (LFS)

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

The dedicated section for Euro indicators and PEEIs on Eurostat’s website is designed to give a general overview of the recent past and near future of the economy in the euro area, European Union and its Member States. It is essentially addressed to specialised users, such as official statisticians and economists, academics, researchers, journalists, etc. It also contains useful information for students and the general public interested in the economic situation at the European level.

A user satisfaction survey is carried out by Eurostat on an annual basis since 2009. The latest results can be consulted online on Eurostat’s website.

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

All news releases are published according to the announced release calendars. Other indicators, not included in the news releases, are also published on time.

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

Not available.

Data are revised when additional information from national statistical authorities becomes available. Major revisions and changes in methodology are announced in Eurostat’s news releases and methodological documents.

Generally, business cycle data are subject to continuous revisions, so they are preliminary when first released; revisions depend on new data received by Member States.

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

See metadata by topic (links are available in the section ‘Related metadata’ below).

None.