Data extracted in September 2024. Planned article update: April 2025.
Highlights
In 2020, domestic production accounted for 63% in Ireland up to 88% in Italy of the total supply of goods and services in EU countries.
In 2020, intermediate consumption accounted for 31% in Ireland up to 49% in Luxembourg of the total product use in EU countries.
In 2020, consumer demand for accommodation and food services fell by between 16% in Sweden and 55% in Croatia, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that triggered a marked decline of value added and intermediate consumption in this economic sector.
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This article presents 2020 data from the supply and use tables of European Union (EU) EFTA and EU enlargement countries. Eurostat collects these tables annually with a 3-year delay, in line with the European system of accounts (ESA 2010) transmission programme.
Supply and use tables are a backbone of national accounts, offering a detailed view of how goods and services are supplied and used within an economy. By balancing data from different sources in a consistent framework, they allow compiling a single and coherent estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) based on production, expenditure, and income. Supply and use tables are unique within national accounts in that they facilitate an integrated analysis of economic transactions across economic and institutional sectors using a single product classification.
The fundamental equations behind the supply-use system can be expressed as
- total supply = production + imports = intermediate consumption + final consumption + gross capital formation + exports = total use; this equation is satisfied for each product category
- value added = production – intermediate consumption = compensation of employees + gross operating surplus and mixed income + other taxes less subsidies on production; this equation is satisfied for each economic activity.
This article focuses on the supply and use tables of individual countries. It is complemented by INSERT ARTICLE NAME HERE another article that examines supply and use relationships in the EU and the euro area (EA) as a whole.
Supply table
In 2020, the contribution of domestic production to total supply varied between EU countries (Figure 1). Italy had the highest share (88%), whereas Ireland had the lowest (63%). Consequently, the contribution of imports to total supply was lowest in Italy (12%) and highest in Ireland (37%). Large EU countries such as Germany, France and Italy tend to be less reliant on imports than smaller EU countries such as Cyprus, Luxembourg and Ireland. Figure 1presents data in basic prices and, therefore, doesn’t include trade and transport margins and taxes less subsidies on products. In 2020, these items together contributed 2% to 7% of the total supply in purchasers’ prices available to individual countries.
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Box 1 The supply table describes how products enter the economy, either through domestic production or imports. It distinguishes 64 product categories by row and the same number of industry categories by column. Also included are data on trade and transport margins as well as taxes less subsidies by product to allow total supply to be converted from basic prices into purchasers’ prices.
The rows of the supply table provide information about the supply of 64 products, classified according to the classification of product by activity (CPA 2.1). The columns detail the domestic production or output of 64 industries, classified according to the classification of economic activities (NACE Rev. 2).
Figure 2 depicts the composition of domestic supply, aggregated to 10 product categories. Industrial products (CPA B to E) and public services (CPA O to Q) accounted for the bulk of domestic supply in most countries. However, there were exceptions such as Luxembourg, Ireland and Cyprus where both of these product categories accounted together for less than 35% of the domestic supply. In Luxembourg, financial and insurance services (CPA K) alone contributed almost half to the domestic supply. The category of non-specified goods and services comprises confidential data and was particularly relevant for Ireland.
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The supply table also offers insights into primary versus secondary production activities. In other words, it allows product shares to be distinguished, those produced as the main characteristic product of an industry versus as a secondary (by-)product by industries that mostly produced other goods and services. Figure 3 illustrates the case of research and development (R&D). There were only 6 countries in the EU where R&D services were mainly produced by the R&D sector (NACE Division 72) as a primary activity. In most countries, the bulk of R&D was done as a secondary activity by, for example, the industrial sector (NACE Sections B to E), the public services sector (NACE Sections O to Q), or by the information and communication sector (NACE Section J). Often, imports made a substantial contribution to the supply of R&D services in a country. In Ireland, they accounted for 97% of R&D activities, likely related to R&D services acquired by large multinational enterprises residing in the country.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (naio_10_cp15)
Use table
At an aggregated level, the use table reveals insight into how products are used up within an economy. Figure 4 shows that the share of intermediate consumption in total use had a low degree of variation across EU countries, ranging between 31% in Ireland and 49% in Luxembourg in 2020. However, the shares of final use show a wider degree of variation. Final consumption expenditure of households, general government, and non-profit institutions represented only 9% of total use in Luxembourg but 44% in Greece. The share of gross capital formation in total use ranged between 3% in Luxembourg and 14% in Ireland (with a higher share in Norway, at 15%). Exports accounted for only 13% of total use in Italy and France, but for 43% in Ireland.
Box 2
The use table shows how products are used up in the economy, either for intermediate consumption by industries, or for final uses. The latter are disaggregated into final consumption by households, general government, or non-profit institutions, gross capital formation and exports. The use table comprises the same 64 product and industry categories as the supply table. However, alongside depicting the intermediate consumption of products, it also contains additional rows to show for each industry the gross value added, disaggregated into the compensation of employees, other taxes less subsidies on production, gross operating surplus and mixed income. Eurostat collects use tables in purchasers’ prices each year and use tables in basic prices every 5 years, for those years ending with a ‘0’ or ‘5’.
The use table contains a wealth of information, though not all of it can be presented here. To provide a snapshot, this article focuses on i) the product mix used for intermediate consumption, ii) the contribution of intermediate consumption and value added to the total output of industries, and iii) the shares of households, general government and non-profit institutions in final consumption.
Intermediate consumption
Industrial products (CPA Sections B to E) accounted for the bulk of intermediate consumption in most EU countries in 2020 (Figure 5). This finding isn’t surprising as these products also tend to dominate domestic supply (Figure 2) and typically goods whose production is relatively material intensive.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (naio_10_cp16)
Likewise, business services (CPA Sections M to N) as well as distributive trade, transport, accommodation and food services (CPA Sections G to I) had a significant share of intermediate consumption. While public services (CPA Sections O to Q) accounted for a substantial portion of domestic supply (Figure 2), they represented a much smaller share of intermediate consumption, primarily serving final uses instead. Luxembourg stood out as financial and insurance services (CPA Section J) were the largest contributor to intermediate consumption in 2020. The category of non-specified goods and services was particularly relevant for Ireland and comprised confidential data.
Production input
While Figure 5 focused on the products used for intermediate consumption, Figure 6 depicts the inputs of production processes. Intermediate consumption of goods and services contributed 45% of production inputs in Greece up to 74% in Luxembourg. The residual share was provided by value added, which includes the compensation of employees, whose share ranged from 14% in Luxembourg to 30% in France. In addition, gross operating surplus and mixed income comprised between 11% of production inputs in Luxembourg up to 36% in Ireland. In about half of the EU countries, other taxes less subsidies on production were negative in 2020, meaning that on average the non-product specific subsidies received by industries exceeded the taxes they paid. This observation is remarkable and may be linked, at least in part, to governmental measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Final consumption
The use table provides detailed data, by product category, on how final goods and services are consumed. As illustrated in Figure 7, household consumption accounted for a majority of final consumption expenditure in every EU country, its share ranging from 58% in Luxembourg to 75% in Romania (a higher share was recorded in North Macedonia, at 79%). General government accounted for between 23% in Portugal (a lower share was recorded in North Macedonia, at 20%) and 38% in the Netherlands of final consumption expenditure. Non-profit institutions represented a relatively small share in all EU countries, ranging from just 0.3% in Lithuania to 4.4% in Luxembourg.
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(%)
Source: Eurostat (naio_10_cp16)
Accommodation and food services during COVID
Supply and use tables serve as a valuable tool to analyse the impacts of exogenous events on the economy. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe, airlines, hotels and restaurants were severely affected by government measures. A closer look at the supply and use of accommodation and food services in 2020 reveals a stark decline in consumer demand compared with the previous year. Figure 8 analyses annual changes in final consumption expenditure by households between 2019 and 2020 in constant price terms.
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(% change between 2019 and 2020)
Source: Eurostat (naio_10_cp16) and (naio_10_pyp16)
Croatia, Greece, and Cyprus witnessed a fall in expenditure that exceeded 50%, while Sweden saw a more modest decline of 16%. Overall, the data suggest that southern EU countries were more severely affected by the pandemic than northern EU countries. The decline in consumer demand for accommodation and food services could be linked to a corresponding reduction in the supply of accommodation and food services. Figure 9 analyses annual changes in domestic supply and imports between 2019 and 2020, expressed in constant price terms.
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(% change between 2019 and 2020)
Source: Eurostat (naio_10_cp15) and (naio_10_pyp15)
In 2020, domestic supply of accommodation and food services fell by between 18% in Slovakia (a smaller fall was recorded in Serbia, at 12%) and 54% in Croatia. Imports fell at an even faster rate, with falls of more than 70% in Cyprus, Finland and the Netherlands.
The shrinking supply of accommodation and food services, in turn, had repercussions for intermediate consumption and the value added of enterprises in the sector (NACE I). Figure 10 shows that gross value added of service providers decreased by between 22% in Poland and 68% in Cyprus, while intermediate consumption decreased by between 13% in Sweden and 57% in Greece.
Figures 8 to 10 convey a consistent picture of COVID impacts for the supply and use dimensions of accommodation and food services. At a more detailed level, the available data can also be used to reveal how the fall in intermediate consumption affected individual product categories and how the decline in value added affected wages, salaries and the operating surplus of producers.
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(% change between 2019 and 2020)
Source: Eurostat (naio_10_cp16) and (naio_10_pyp16)
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
Supply, use, and input-output tables are part of national accounts as defined in the European system of accounts (ESA 2010). The concepts and definitions in ESA 2010 are fully consistent with the United Nation’s System of national accounts (SNA 2008).
Eurostat collects, validates and publishes supply, use and input-output tables for EU countries, EFTA countries, and EU candidate countries 3 years after the end of the reference period. The scope and modalities of the data collection are defined in the ESA 2010 transmission programme. Countries transmit data on a mandatory basis each year for i) the supply table at basic prices including transformation into purchasers’ prices and ii) the use table in purchasers’ prices. Every 5 years (years ending with a ‘0’ or ‘5’), the transmission also includes i) the use table at basic prices, ii) a table for trade and transport margins, iii) a table for taxes less subsidies on products and iv) input-output tables. All tables have to be delivered no later than 3 years after the reference period. Eurostat welcomes voluntary data transmissions and publishes data, as they become available.
The tables distinguish 64 product and industry categories according to CPA 2.1 and NACE Rev. 2; all transactions are valued in monetary units.
Context
Supply and use tables are matrices that depict money transactions within the economy by product (in rows) and industry (in columns). The supply table captures domestic production or output (by product and industry) and imports (by product). It also includes data on trade and transport margins and taxes less subsidies on products that allow supply data to be transformed from basic prices into purchasers’ prices. The use table reveals how domestic production and imports are used for intermediate consumption (by product and industry) and final uses (by product and disaggregated for final consumption expenditure, gross capital formation and exports). The use table also provides information on gross value added by industry (disaggregated into compensation of employees, consumption of fixed capital, other net taxes on production, net operating surplus and mixed income).
Supply and use tables are central to national accounts. They adhere to a common set of definitions for all products, activities and institutional sectors to show a consistent picture of how goods and services are brought into the economy, how they are used and how value is created in the process. Supply and use tables respect the following identities
- total supply = total use – the supply of goods and services (either through domestic production or imports) must be equal to the use of goods and services (either through intermediate consumption, final consumption, gross capital formation, or exports)
- total output = total input – for each industry, the output of goods and services produced must be equal to intermediate and primary inputs (products for intermediate consumption, compensation of employees, consumption of fixed capital, other taxes less subsidies on production, net operating surplus).
Supply and use tables help determine a single and consistent estimate of GDP, based on 3 approaches considering production, expenditure and income within an economy
- production approach – GDP is the sum of gross value added of all industries, plus taxes less subsidies on products (which aren’t allocated to industries)
- expenditure approach – GDP is the sum of final uses of goods and services (including final consumption expenditure by households, general government and non-profit institutions, gross capital formation and exports) minus imports of goods and services
- income approach – GDP is the sum of income earned by individuals and businesses (including compensation of employees, consumption of fixed capital, taxes on production and imports less subsidies, net operating surplus and mixed income).
Supply and use tables provide the basis for input-output tables that capture the supply and use of products in a single matrix. Input-output tables are obtained by transforming either the products in the rows into industries or the industries in the columns into products. The transformation involves several assumptions and results in a symmetric intermediate consumption matrix, showing only products or industries in both rows and columns. Input-output tables thereby depict the supply and use of goods and services with a single classification (either by product or by industry).
Together, supply, use and input-output tables help determine input-output coefficients and multipliers for Leontief-type input-output modelling. They underpin a wealth of macro-economic and econometric analyses, for example, general equilibrium models. Supply, use and input-output tables capture the value chains of goods and services produced and consumed within an economy as well as import and export flows from and to other countries. Supply, use and input-output tables can be extended to trace the economic impacts of specific domains (for example tourism, the digital industry, or the space economy) or environmental impacts (for example resource use, deforestation, or emission footprints). National supply and use tables also provide the building blocks for multi-regional or inter-country supply, use and input-output tables. Such tables capture transactions and value chains at a regional or global scale. Examples include the FIGARO (full international and global accounts for research in input-output analysis) tables published by Eurostat as official European statistics since 2021 and the inter-country input-output tables produced by the OECD.
The supply and use tables for the EU and the euro area are derived from the FIGARO tables and are presented in a separate INSERT ARTICLE NAME HERE article.
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- Supply, use and Input-output tables - current prices (naio_10_cp)