Statistics Explained

Did you know that....

In 2022, 147 fatalities were recorded in aviation accidents in the EU territory and involving EU-registered aircraft. Read more...

Welcome To Statistics Explained

Statistics Explained, your guide to European statistics. Statistics Explained is an official Eurostat website presenting statistical topics in an easily understandable way. Together, the articles make up an encyclopedia of European statistics for everyone, completed by a statistical glossary clarifying all terms used and by numerous links to further information and the latest data and metadata, a portal for occasional and regular users.

New / updated articles

Road freight transport by vehicle characteristics

Updated 29/09/2023

There were nearly 4.0 million goods vehicles registered in the EU in 2022. This number was 1.5 % higher than in 2021 (see Table 1). When looking at the average annual growth rate, no significant changes occurred between 2018 and 2021. Among the EU Member States, Poland had the largest stock of goods vehicles in 2022, with 17.9 % of the EU fleet, while Germany had the second largest fleet, with 14.3 %, followed by France and Spain, with 10.5 % and 9.6 %, respectively. More ...

Inflation in the euro area

Updated 29/09/2023

Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 4.3 % in September 2023, down from 5.2 % in August 2023. Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in September (8.8 %, compared with 9.7 % in August), followed by services (4.7 %, compared with 5.5 % in August), non-energy industrial goods (4.2 %, compared with 4.7 % in August) and energy (-4.7 %, compared with -3.3 % in August). More ...

Food waste and food waste prevention - estimates

Updated 29/09/2023

In 2021, the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, around 131 kilogrammes (kg) of food waste per inhabitant were generated in the EU. Households generated 54 % of food waste, accounting for 70 kg per inhabitant. The remaining 46 % was waste generated upwards in the food supply chain. Household food waste is nearly twice the amount of food waste arising from the sectors of primary production and manufacture of food products and beverages (11 kg and 28 kg per inhabitant; 9 % and 21 %, respectively), sectors in which strategies exist for reducing food waste, for instance with the use of discarded parts as by-products. Restaurants and food services accounted for 12 kg of food waste per person (9 %), while retail and other distribution of food was the sector with the least amount of food waste (9 kg; 7 %); however, the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns on these two sectors is still being analysed. More ...

Air passenger transport - monthly statistics

Updated 29/09/2023

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, since the beginning of 2020, countries around the world took a variety of restrictive travel measures that severely hit the air travel industry. Starting from the second half of 2021 restrictive measures were gradually removed encouraging people to travel by air again thus impacting commercial air traffic.

In 2022, there were visible signs of recovery that were repeated in each month of 2022 where as small decreases were registered in the total number of commercial flights (passengers, freight and mail) in the EU compared with the same month in 2019 (Figure 1). The largest decreases compared with the same months of 2019 were recorded in January, February, March and April with -34.3 %, -32.8 %, 26.6 % and -19.4 % respectively. Starting from May 2022, the number of flights had decreased by less than 17% compared with the same months of 2019. The smallest decreases are from -14.1 % in October 2022, to -14.2 % in August 2022.

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Looking for an article on a specific theme

General and regional statistics/EU policies

Economy and finance

Population and social conditions

Industry and services

Agriculture, forestry and fisheries

International trade

Transport

Environment and energy

Science, technology and digital society

New / updated articles

Road freight transport by vehicle characteristics

Updated 29/09/2023

There were nearly 4.0 million goods vehicles registered in the EU in 2022. This number was 1.5 % higher than in 2021 (see Table 1). When looking at the average annual growth rate, no significant changes occurred between 2018 and 2021. Among the EU Member States, Poland had the largest stock of goods vehicles in 2022, with 17.9 % of the EU fleet, while Germany had the second largest fleet, with 14.3 %, followed by France and Spain, with 10.5 % and 9.6 %, respectively. More ...

Inflation in the euro area

Updated 29/09/2023

Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 4.3 % in September 2023, down from 5.2 % in August 2023. Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in September (8.8 %, compared with 9.7 % in August), followed by services (4.7 %, compared with 5.5 % in August), non-energy industrial goods (4.2 %, compared with 4.7 % in August) and energy (-4.7 %, compared with -3.3 % in August). More ...

Food waste and food waste prevention - estimates

Updated 29/09/2023

In 2021, the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, around 131 kilogrammes (kg) of food waste per inhabitant were generated in the EU. Households generated 54 % of food waste, accounting for 70 kg per inhabitant. The remaining 46 % was waste generated upwards in the food supply chain. Household food waste is nearly twice the amount of food waste arising from the sectors of primary production and manufacture of food products and beverages (11 kg and 28 kg per inhabitant; 9 % and 21 %, respectively), sectors in which strategies exist for reducing food waste, for instance with the use of discarded parts as by-products. Restaurants and food services accounted for 12 kg of food waste per person (9 %), while retail and other distribution of food was the sector with the least amount of food waste (9 kg; 7 %); however, the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns on these two sectors is still being analysed. More ...

Air passenger transport - monthly statistics

Updated 29/09/2023

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, since the beginning of 2020, countries around the world took a variety of restrictive travel measures that severely hit the air travel industry. Starting from the second half of 2021 restrictive measures were gradually removed encouraging people to travel by air again thus impacting commercial air traffic.

In 2022, there were visible signs of recovery that were repeated in each month of 2022 where as small decreases were registered in the total number of commercial flights (passengers, freight and mail) in the EU compared with the same month in 2019 (Figure 1). The largest decreases compared with the same months of 2019 were recorded in January, February, March and April with -34.3 %, -32.8 %, 26.6 % and -19.4 % respectively. Starting from May 2022, the number of flights had decreased by less than 17% compared with the same months of 2019. The smallest decreases are from -14.1 % in October 2022, to -14.2 % in August 2022.

More ...

Did you know that....

In 2022, 147 fatalities were recorded in aviation accidents in the EU territory and involving EU-registered aircraft. Read more...

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