In 2020, “public administration, defense, education, human health and social activities†have become the most important economic activities in the EU. These activities accounted for 19.8% of total gross value added (GVA) in the EU, overtaking “industry (excluding construction)” (19.5%) and “wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation and catering â€(17.9%).
At the other end of the scale, the least important economic activities in the EU were ‘agriculture, forestry and fishing’ (1.8%), followed by ‘arts, entertainment and recreation ; other service activities; activities of households and extraterritorial organizations and bodies â€(3.0%).
Source dataset: nama_10_a10
When comparing the shares of GVA in 2020 with those of 2019, “wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation and food services” were the most affected in the share of total GVA of the EU (from 19.3% in 2019 to 17.9% in 2020; -1.4 percentage points), followed by “industry (except construction)†(from 19.9% ​​to 19.5%; -0.4 pp) and “arts, entertainment and recreation; other service activities; activities of domestic and extraterritorial organizations and bodies â€(3.3% to 3.0%; -0.3 pp).
On the other hand, the percentage of GVA generated by “public administration, defense, education, human health and social action activities†increased from 18.7% in 2019 to 19.8% in 2020 (+1.1 pp). Next come “real estate activities†(from 10.8% to 11.3%; +0.5 pp) and “information and communication†(from 5.1% to 5.5%; +0.4 pp).
In real terms, the total GVA generated by economic activities in the EU in 2020 was 5.9% lower than in 2019.
For more information:
• Eurostat Statistics Explained article on national accounts and GDP
• Section dedicated to Eurostat on national accounts
• Eurostat database on national accounts
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