Editor's note

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 16:54

Facing G-20 meeting: the EU’s place in the world

Eugene Eteris, European Studies Faculty, RSU, BC International Editor, Copenhagen, 05.09.2016.Print version

On the occasion of the upcoming G-20 meeting in Hangzhou (China), the EU has released the publication “The EU in the world”, which provided a portrait of the EU compared with the major economies of the world. Twenty most powerful states in the world together with the EU-28 cover about 85% of the global GDP.

The newest 2016 edition of the Eurostat publication “The EU in the world” compares the European Union with the 15 non-EU G-20 countries across thirteen statistical fields using a range of European and international statistics. The fields cover population, living conditions, health, education & training, labour market, economy & finance, trade, industry & services, research & communication, transport, agriculture, environment and energy.  

 

The G-20 comprises the world’s major advanced and emerging economies. It includes the EU as a legal entity, four EU states (Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom) and 15 countries from the rest of the world (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United States). Thus, the G-20 composition looks as 1+4+15! 

 

General overview

 

 The EU share in the world’s GDP (2014) stays at 23.8%; the share of other G-20 members - 61.4% and for countries of the rest of the world - 14.8%. Together the members of the G-20 covered over 61% of the world’s land area, were home to 64% of the world population and generated 85% of the global GDP in 2014.

 

With 509 million inhabitants in 2015, the EU accounted for just below 7% of the world population (the latter is presently 7.3 billion inhabitants).

 

China - 1 376 million inhabitants or 18.7% of the world population and India (1 311 mn or 17.8%) were more populous, while the United States (322 mn or 4.4%), Indonesia (258 mn or 3.5%) and Brazil (208 mn or 2.8%) accounted for a lower share of the world population than the EU. Thus in global population: EU - 6.9%; other G-20 members - 57.0% and the rest of the world - 36.1%;

 

Fertility rate among G-20 members and the EU

 

The average number of births per woman in the EU stood at 1.5 in 2013. It was the third lowest rate among G-20 members surpassing only South Korea (1.2) and Japan (1.4). The highest fertility rates were registered in Saudi Arabia (2.8), Indonesia and India (both 2.5).


The world average is 2.5 births per women.  


Old age dependency, measured as the ratio of the number of older persons (aged 65 and over) to the number of persons of working age (from 15 to 64), was by far the highest in 2014 in Japan (41.9%), followed by the EU (28.1%), Canada (23.0%), Australia (22.1%) and the United States (21.6%). The old age dependency ratio in these countries is well above the world average (12.3%).

 

In 2015, the G-20 countries with the highest share of foreign-born population were Saudi Arabia (32.3% of the population), Australia (28.2%), Canada (21.8%) and the United States (14.5%).

 

As to the EU almost 7% (6.8%) of the EU population were born outside the EU, also above the world average of 3.3%. In contrast, less than 1% of the population was foreign-born in Indonesia (less than 0.05%), China (0.1%), Brazil (0.3%) and Mexico (0.9%).

 

The EU is the largest contributor to world GDP

 

Compared to the EU’s share in the global GDP of 23.8%, the United States has had 22.2%, China - 13.4% and Japan - 5.9%. Together, these four entities accounted for almost two-thirds of world GDP.

 

The EU was a very significant trade partner for Russia and Turkey, with 45.1% of Russian and 43.5% of Turkish exports going to the EU in 2014, while the shares of Russia and Turkey in total EU exports were 6.1% and 4.4% respectively.

 

Looking at the EU's two largest trading partners in absolute terms, 17.1% of US and 15.8% of Chinese exports went to the EU, while the shares of the United States and China in total EU exports were 18.3% and 9.7% respectively.

 

The EU among the G-20 leaders for renewable energy

 

With 28.5% of gross electricity generated from renewables and waste, the EU was among the top G-20 members for renewable energy, with only Brazil (76.8%), Canada (62.8%) and Turkey (28.9%) having higher proportions.

 

In research and development, South Korea (4.15%), Japan (3.47%), the United States (2.81%) and Australia (2.25%) had higher shares of R&D expenditure relative to GDP than that of the EU (2.03%).

 

Reference: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STAT-16-2941_en.htm?locale=en

 

 





Search site