Performance of agricultural sector

In 2020, the agricultural sector contributed an estimated EUR 171.9 billion towards the EU’s GDP, the equivalent of 1.3% of the total. In comparative terms, this was only slightly less than the GDP of Greece.

The agricultural industry in the EU created an estimated gross value added of EUR 177.0 billion in 2020. One way of looking at this is that for every 1 euro spent on the cost of goods and services used in the production process, the farms in the EU created added value of EUR 0.75.

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The total value of agricultural production in 2020 was an estimated EUR 411.8 billion, of which about half (52.8%) came from crops (including 14.0% from vegetables and horticultural plants and 11.2% from cereals) and just under two fifths (38.6%) from animals and animal products (including 13.1% from milk and 9.6% from pigs). The remainder was from agricultural services and inseparable non-agricultural activities.

Agricultural income per AWU for the EU as a whole was slightly lower in 2020 compared to 2019

Agricultural income per annual work unit (AWU) in the EU was an estimated 1.5 % lower in 2020 than in 2019. This slight decline at the level of the EU included lower agricultural incomes in five of the seven largest agricultural producers: Italy (-4.9 %), the Netherlands (-5.1 %), France (-7.6 %), Romania (-13.8 %) and Germany (-14.6 %, this being the sharpest rate of decrease among Member States).

A majority of Member States, though, recorded increases in this index in 2020. The largest upturns were in Lithuania (+30.2 %), Croatia (+13.2 %), Spain (+13.0 %) and Hungary (+11.6 %).

For more information:

• Read the Statistics Explained article on Performance of the agricultural sector