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' and '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.

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).

This indicator shows the investment for the total economy, government, business as well as household sectors. The indicator gives the share of GDP that is used for gross investment (rather than being used for e.g. consumption or exports). It is defined as gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) expressed as a percentage of GDP for the government, business and households sectors.
GFCF consists of resident producers' acquisitions, less disposals of fixed assets plus certain additions to the value of non-produced assets realised by productive activity, such as improvements to land.
Fixed assets comprise, for example, dwellings, other buildings and structures (roads, bridges etc.), machinery and equipment, but also intangible assets such as computer software and other intellectual property.

% of GDP
i. Total investment
ii. Business investment
iii. Government investment
iv. Households investments

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. Complete and updated ESS data release information can be accessed via Eurostat release calendar.

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, Albania, Serbia and Türkiye.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries.

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).

> 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.

Application of a common framework (European System of Accounts 2010) ensures data comparability over time. On rare occasions where series are not comparable, data breaks are appropriately flagged in the Eurostat database.

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_11

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

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