Statistics in the European Union are collected by Eurostat. The EU has 25 member states as of 1 May 2004. This number will increase as other states join the Union. Romania and Bulgaria are scheduled to join in 2007.
See also: Enlargement of the European Union
Institutional Statistics
See also:
Area & Population
The European Union had a population of 456.8 million in 2004. This will exceed 500 million as more states are expected to join the union in the next few years. The most densely populated country is the island of Malta, which is also the smallest, whilst the largest in area is France. The least densely populated country is Finland. The highest and lowest figures in each column have been marked in bold.
See also: Largest cities of the European Union by population
Economy
For statistics relating to economy, please see Economy of the European Union.
EU Budget
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.
Proportion of non-EU nationals
In most EU cities, there is a proportion of its inhabitants which are not nationals of the European Union. Eurostat has compiled figures for this, which are listed below.
Top 10 Cities
| Rank |
City |
Proportion
% |
| 1 |
 Tallinn, Estonia |
27.8 |
| 2 |
 Cayenne, French Guiana (France) |
22.7 |
| 3 |
 Athens, Greece |
16.7 |
| 4 |
 Frankfurt, Germany |
16.3 |
| 5 |
Munich, Germany |
16.2 |
| 6 |
 Vienna, Austria |
14.4 |
| 7 |
Augsburg, Germany |
14.3 |
| 8 |
Cologne, Germany |
14.0 |
| 9 |
Wiesbaden, Germany |
13.9 |
| 10 |
Bonn, Germany |
13.5 |
|
Bottom 10 Cities
| Rank |
City |
Proportion
% |
| 1 |
 Konin, Poland |
0.0 |
| = |
Suwalki, Poland |
0.0 |
| = |
Zory, Poland |
0.0 |
| 2 |
Kielce, Poland |
0.1 |
| = |
Poznan, Poland |
0.1 |
| = |
Torun, Poland |
0.1 |
| = |
Lublin, Poland |
0.1 |
| = |
Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland |
0.1 |
| = |
Gdansk, Poland |
0.1 |
| = |
Katowice, Poland |
0.1 |
|
Freedom and Governance-related Rankings
There are many indices available on issues such as corruption, development, and freedom.
Freedom of the Press
Reporters sans frontières conducts an annual survey on the freedom of the press and produces scores (not shown here) for each country. In 2004 five countries, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovakia all ranked as having the most free press with a score of 0.50, whilst Italy and Spain were ranked as having the least free press in the European Union, with a score of 9.00.
There is no data available for Cyprus, Luxembourg, or Malta, and hence are not included in these statistics.
Economic Freedom
An index of Economic Freedom is produced by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation. It uses 50 different variables to compile the survey, in areas such as trade policy and government intervention. Luxembourg ranks as having the most economic freedom in the European Union, and is also placed third out of all nations surveyed.
A similar index produced by the World Economic Forum is its Global Competitiveness Index.
Perception of Corruption
Transparency International is an international NGO publishing an annual Global Corruption Report indicating the perception of corruption around the world. The rankings of the table refer to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2004. The three Nordic countries in the EU, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden rank as having the lowest perception of corruption.
Human Development
The Human Development Index is a measure produced by the United Nations which covers three aspects of human development:
Income equality
Income inequality, measured by the gini coefficient is how evenly incomes are distributed through the population. Hungary has the least income inequality with a gini coefficient score of 24.4, whilst Portugal has the most income inequality with a score of 38.5. Malta and Cyprus have no statistics available, and so are not included in this table. These statistics have been compiled by the United Nations (see [1])
See also
Sources
