Archive:Household financial assets and liabilities

(Data from August 2008)

File:Households’ stock of financial assets as a percentage of GDP.PNG

Graph 1: Households’ stock of financial assets as a percentage of GDP.

This article analyses the financial behaviour of the household sector (together with non-profit institutions serving households) in the European Union (EU). 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

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Table 1: Full title of the Table, Graph or Map

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 article 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

This article analyses the financial behaviour of the household sector (together with non-profit institutions serving households) in the European Union.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Financial Assets and Liabilities of Households in the European Union

Database

Financial accounts, see:

Title(s) of second level folder (if any)

Title(s) of third level folder (if any)

Dedicated section

Financial accounts

Other information

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