Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact:ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth; which is embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under the European Green Deal, Economy that works for people. SDG 8 recognises the importance of sustained economic growth and high levels of economic productivity for the creation of well-paid quality jobs and the achievement of global prosperity. That said, it envisions inclusive and sustainable economic growth, which leaves no one behind and does not harm the environment.

Indicator can be considered as identical to global SDG indicator 8.1.1 "Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita". Furthermore, it is part of the impact indicators for Strategic plan 2020-2024 referring to the 6 Commission priorities.

The EU supports growth, job creation and competitiveness through funding instrumentssuch as the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the European Social Fund and its successor, the European Social Fund Plus, the European Structural and Investment Funds, Horizon 2020, the Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME), the Emergency Support Instrument, the Connecting Europe Facility and the Creative Europe Programme (CAP).

The indicator is calculated as the ratio of real GDP to the average population of a specific year. GDP measures the value of total final output of goods and services produced by an economy within a certain period of time. It includes goods and services that have markets (or which could have markets) and products which are produced by general government and non-profit institutions.

It is a measure of economic activity and is commonly used as a proxy for the development in a country’s material living standards. However, it is not a complete measure of economic welfare. For example, GDP does not include most unpaid household work. Neither does GDP take account of negative effects of economic activity, like environmental degradation.

Real GDP per capita is calculated as the ratio of real GDP to the average population of a specific year and is based on rounded figures.

Chain linked volumes (2010) in EUR and % change on previous year.

Calendar year.

The indicator is produced according to the high-level quality standards of European Statistics. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link to related metadata).

ESS (National accounts)

Data source: National accounts

Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by the countries.

Every year

The indicator is updated annually.

T+1 year

New data points are disseminated within one year after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Abania, Serbia and Türkiye.

All EU MS

Comparability across all EU Member States respectively other presented countries is ensured by the application of the legal framework represented by ESA 2010 and SNA 2008. Comparability of GDP for EU countries is regularly monitored in the context of the work of the Gross National Income (GNI) Committee. In addition, international harmonisation of techniques and, to some extent, compilation tools is ensured by the work of the national accounts working groups (Eurostat, OECD, UN).

Comparability across countries of the population figures is ensured by application of the same concept (ESA 2010) across countries.

> 10 years

Presented time series (including EU aggregates) starts in 2000.

> 4 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

See table  sdg_08_10

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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