When embarking on the hunt for the perfect presents to delight children, toys are surely at the top of the list. The EU is a net importer of toys from the rest of the world, with €7.1 billion worth of toys imported from extra-EU countries in 2021. Extra-EU exports totalled around a third of this (€2.4 billion). China main toy importer to the EU China […]
EU ports still recovering from pandemic disruptions
Following a significant 45% fall in the number of passengers embarking and disembarking in EU ports in 2020 (compared with 2019), 2021 was more positive, with data showing a partial recovery. Compared with 2020, the number of passengers increased by 16%, reaching 267.9 million passengers from 230 million in 2020. This is still considerably below the levels […]
Plastic packaging waste: 38% recycled in 2020
In 2020, each person living in the EU generated 34.6 kg of plastic packaging waste on average. Out of these, 13.0 kg were recycled. This information comes from data on packaging waste published by Eurostat on 20 October. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article. Between 2010 and 2020, the volume of plastic packaging […]
The NEET rate within the EU and its Member States 2021
Today young people are changing jobs more frequently and it takes a longer time to get established on the labour market. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the transition from education to work is smooth and also highlight the risks of being neither in employment nor in education or training. There are risks, […]
Bread more expensive than ever
Bread, vegetables, meat – food has become more expensive. Prices for cooking oils and fats have risen particularly sharply, but important staple foods such as bread have also become significantly more costly. This is particularly due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has significantly disturbed global markets since Russia and Ukraine have been major exporters of […]
Europe on wheels: production and export of bicycles in the EU
EU produced 13.5 million bicycles in 2021 In 2021, a total of 13.5 million bicycles were produced in the EU, indicating a 11% increase compared with 2020. The sold production of bicycles greatly varies among EU Member States for which data are available. The largest number of bicycles produced was reported in Portugal (2.9 million), Romania (2.5 million), […]
Age of young people leaving their parental household in Europe
Leaving the parental home is considered a milestone in the transition from childhood to adulthood. The reasons behind this step may vary from being materially independent to studying, working, moving in with a partner, getting married and having children, etc. However, the path to independence may not be straightforward and may occur at different ages […]
Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things in EU enterprises
Modern smart technologies bring changes to EU enterprises. Such smart technologies include artificial intelligence (AI), which gives machines and systems the capability to learn and make decisions with some degree of autonomy to achieve specific goals. It also includes the smart environment called the Internet of Things (IoT), where machines, devices, sensors or systems are interconnected and […]
EU’s need for natural gas imports reduced to 83% by 2021
In 2021, the EU’s natural gas import dependency rate was 83%. This is 1 percentage point (pp) less than 2020 (84%). This small decrease in import dependency was significantly influenced by the fact that most EU Member States used stocks of natural gas that were imported in previous years. In fact, the drop in natural gas stocks in 2021 was […]