That dollar amount reflects a 23.3% increase in the overall cost of EU imported goods purchased in 2019 which was $5.38 trillion. Those statistics exclude the now ex-EU member the United Kingdom from the comparison.
Spending on the European Union’s imports in 2023 equal 28.9% of world imports which totaled $23.554 trillion. That global percentage is slightly higher than 28.6% for 2022 and 28.2% five years earlier during 2019.
The European Union’s population was 451.8 million people as of July 2023 according to the CIA World Factbook. Consequently, the total $6.815 trillion in 2023 EU imports translates to approximately $15,100 in international purchases by every person in the current 27-member European Union. That per-capita metric lags the average $16,200 one year earlier for 2022.
As the following statistical table shows, Germany and France continue to be the EU’s dominant players in international trade for 2023. Those two leading importers paid for nearly one third (32.9%) of all EU spending on imported products.
Note that the United Kingdom exited from the EU on January 31, 2020. The UK remains a major supplier for the EU’s demand for imported goods, accounting for 42.5% of the UK’s total export revenues for 2023. That percentage is roughly 10% less than the 46.2% share that the UK earned in its last year of EU membership in 2020.
Top EU Import Countries
Below is an analysis of European Union import countries that purchased products from around the globe during 2023. Also shown is each country’s share of the EU’s global imports as well as changes in spending costs from 2022 to 2023.
| EU Member | Imports (US$) | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | $1,469,735,378,000 | -7.1% |
| France | $775,128,724,000 | -4.8% |
| Netherlands | $664,131,324,000 | -6.6% |
| Italy | $639,928,812,000 | -8% |
| Belgium | $550,854,780,000 | -11.8% |
| Spain | $469,043,091,000 | -6% |
| Poland | $341,407,274,000 | -4.8% |
| Czech Republic | $228,913,299,000 | -3.1% |
| Austria | $223,336,425,000 | -1.4% |
| Sweden | $193,043,982,000 | -4.9% |
| Ireland | $150,611,380,000 | +1.3% |
| Hungary | $148,897,654,000 | -6.6% |
| Romania | $131,962,913,000 | -0.6% |
| Denmark | $126,396,956,000 | -0.5% |
| Slovakia | $115,356,036,000 | -0.4% |
| Portugal | $113,486,253,000 | -1.6% |
| Greece | $88,606,156,000 | -9.6% |
| Finland | $82,725,390,000 | -15% |
| Slovenia | $61,689,903,000 | +3.5% |
| Bulgaria | $53,528,641,000 | -7.9% |
| Lithuania | $48,418,283,000 | -12.1% |
| Croatia | $42,552,637,000 | -3.5% |
| Luxembourg | $25,214,726,000 | -5.4% |
| Latvia | $24,978,867,000 | -10.5% |
| Estonia | $23,437,466,000 | -14.9% |
| Cyprus | $14,000,932,000 | +17.8% |
| Malta | $8,390,919,000 | -2% |
The top 10 importers accounted for 82.1% of the overall value for the EU’s total trade purchases during 2023.
There was a trio of growth markets for products imported into the EU from 2022 to 2023. These were: Cyprus (up 17.8%), Slovenia (up 3.5%) then Ireland (up 1.3%).
Luxembourg (up 2.1% from 2022) and Denmark (up 3.2%) recorded the most modest increases in spending on imported products.
Twenty-four of the European Union’s 27 members posted a decline in its import purchases compared to 2022.
Double-digit cuts in import spending belong to Finland (down -15% from 2022), Estonia (down -14.9%), Lithuania (down -12.1%), Belgium (down -11.8%) and Latvia (down -10.5%).
See also United Kingdom’s Top Trading Partners, European Union’s Top 10 Exports, UK’s EU Trade Scorecard Before Brexit and Top EU Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Europe: European Union. Accessed on November 9, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases. Accessed on November 9, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 9, 2024
Wikipedia, European Union. Accessed on November 9, 2024
Wikipedia, List of European countries by population. Accessed on November 9, 2024
Wikipedia, Member State of the European Union. Accessed on November 9, 2024