(Data from August 2008)
This article analyses the financial behaviour of the household sector (together with non-profit institutions serving households) in the European Union. However, the data presented only go up to 2007 — the latest annual data available — and therefore do not reflect the most recent changes in financial markets.
Main statistical findings
Households’ stocks of assets
Figure 1 shows the total stock of financial assets held by the household sector and non-profit institutions serving households as a percentage of GDP for all EU countries which send data to Eurostat plus Norway and Switzerland. It is worth noting that all data presented in this publication are non-consolidated (the relevant methodology is described on the last page).
As Figure 1 shows, the stocks of financial assets held by the household sector as a percentage of GDP varied, in 2007, from 48% for Slovakia to 375% in Switzerland. The UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Italy also rank high. In general, it can be said that in the new Member States (in this chart Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia) the stocks of financial assets as a percentage of GDP are smaller than in the other countries. That is, the size of the stocks seems to be correlated to per capita GDP, although other variables such as development of financial markets can be important. For better understanding, Table 1 shows the development of the stocks of financial assets for 2000–2007.
Households’ liabilities
So far we have focused on households’ holdings of assets. Now, we turn our attention to the liabilities side.
Data sources and availability
The data presented only go up to 2007 — the latest annual data available — and therefore do not reflect the most recent changes in financial markets.
Context
Publications
Further Eurostat information
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External links
See also
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