European Union statistics

Statistics in the European Union are collected by Eurostat (European statistics body).

As of 1 January 2006, the population of the EU was about 493 million people. Many countries are expected to experience a decline in population over the coming decades, though this could be offset with new countries planning to join the EU within the next 20 years. The most populous member state is Germany, with an estimated 80.4 million people. France and Ireland have the highest birth-rates. The most densely populated country is the island of Malta, which is also the smallest, while the largest in area is France. The least densely populated country is Finland.

Population figures in the table below are from 2006 or 2007 estimates. The highest and lowest figures in each column have been marked in bold.

For statistics relating to economy, please see Economy of the European Union.

The primary resource for funding the European Union is the contributions sought from member states. Each member state contributes to the EU budget, and receives funding back from the EU, depending on the relative wealth of the states, i.e. their ability to pay.

The table below shows the contributions as a percentage of the total budget. This takes into account the special considerations given to the United Kingdom to reduce its contribution through a rebate. Expenditure in Luxembourg, Belgium and France include items for the EU administrative centres in each of those countries.

There are many indices available on issues such as corruption, development, and freedom.

Reporters sans frontières conducts an annual survey on the freedom of the press and produces scores (not shown here) for each country. In 2013, Finland was proclaimed as having the freest press in the European Union, and indeed the world, with a score of 6.38. Bulgaria was ranked as having the least free press in the European Union, with a score of 28.58. [1]

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