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This section introduces the main economic and financial structures of the euro area economy.
For details, see Chapter 2 of the book "The monetary policy of the ECB" (see link on the right-hand side).
Compared with the economies of its individual member countries, the euro area is a large and much more closed economy. In terms of its share of world GDP it is the world’s largest economy after that of the United States.
As in other highly developed economies, the service sector has the largest share of total output, followed by the industrial sector, while the share held by agriculture, fishing and forestry is relatively small. Also in terms of population the euro area is one of the world’s largest economies, with more than 330 million people.
| Key real economy characteristics of the euro area in 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sources: Eurostat, IMF, European Commission, OECD, Reuters, ECB, national data and ECB calculations. |
||||
| Unit | Euro area | United States | Japan | |
| Population( 1 ) | millions | 331.4 | 309.8 | 127.6 |
| GDP (share of world GDP)( 2 ) | % | 14.5 | 19.5 | 5.9 |
| GDP per capita ( 2 ) | € thousands | 27.6 | 37.7 | 27.3 |
| Value added by economic activity | ||||
| Agriculture, fishing, forestry | % of GDP | 1.7 | 1.0*) | 1.2 |
| Industry (including constructions) | % of GDP | 25.1 | 20.0*) | 28.1 |
| Services (including non-market services) | % of GDP | 73.2 | 79.0*) | 70.7 |
| Unemployment rate (share of the labour force) | % | 10.1 | 9.6 | 5.1 |
| Labour force participation rate ( 3 ) | % | 71.4 | 73.9 | 74.0 |
| Employment rate ( 4 ) | % | 64.1 | 66.7 | 70.1 |
| General government | ||||
| Surplus (+) or deficit (-) | % of GDP | -6.2 | -10.7 | -8.4 |
| Gross debt ( 5 ) | % of GDP | 85.3 | 82.4 | 188.4 |
| Revenue | % of GDP | 44.7 | 27.4 | 30.9 |
| of which direct taxes | % of GDP | 11.6 | 10.9 | 7.8 |
| of which indirect taxes | % of GDP | 12.9 | 7.3 | 8.3 |
| of which social contributions | % of GDP | 15.6 | 6.8 | 11.9 |
| Expenditure( 6 ) | % of GDP | 51.0 | 38.1 | 39.3 |
| of which final consumption | % of GDP | 22.0 | 17.2 | 19.8 |
| of which social payments | % of GDP | 24.2 | 15.6 | 25.2 |
| External( 7 ) | ||||
| Exports of goods | % of GDP | 17.1 | 8.9 | 13.3 |
| Exports of goods and services | % of GDP | 22.8 | 12.6 | 15.8 |
| Import of goods | % of GDP | 16.9 | 13.3 | 11.6 |
| Import of goods and services | % of GDP | 22.1 | 16.1 | 14.5 |
| Exports (share of world exports, including intra-euro area trade) | % | 26.1 | 8.6 | 5.2 |
| Exports (share of world exports, excluding intra-euro area trade) | % | 15.7 | 9.9 | 6.0 |
| Current account balance | % of GDP | -0.1 | -3.2 | 3.7 |
