European imports in 2019 represent an estimated 32.6% of overall world imports which totaled $19.065 trillion. That percentage is a decline from the 35.7% one year earlier.
Given the European Union’s population of about 518.8 million people according to the CIA World Factbook, the total $6.211 trillion in 2019 EU imports translates to approximately $11,972 in international purchases by every person in the current 28-member European Union.
As the following statistical table shows, Germany and the United Kingdom continue to be the EU’s dominant players in international trade in 2019. But note that the UK exited from the EU on January 31, 2020.
Top European Import Countries
Below are the top European import countries that purchased the highest dollar value worth of products from around the globe during 2019. Also shown is each country’s share of the EU’s global imports as well as changes in value from 2018 to 2019.
| Rank | Importer | 2019 Imports (US$) | %EU Total | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $1,236,298,731,000 | 19.9% | -3.9% |
| 2. | United Kingdom | $692,580,063,000 | 11.2% | +3.1% |
| 3. | Netherlands | $646,752,548,000 | 10.4% | +0.1% |
| 4. | France | $637,949,069,000 | 10.3% | -3.4% |
| 5. | Italy | $473,562,250,000 | 7.6% | -6% |
| 6. | Belgium | $426,489,085,000 | 6.9% | -6.2% |
| 7. | Spain | $375,485,170,000 | 6.0% | -4% |
| 8. | Poland | $246,653,880,000 | 4.0% | -7.9% |
| 9. | Austria | $188,052,117,000 | 3.0% | -3% |
| 10. | Czech Republic | $178,552,266,000 | 2.9% | -3.4% |
| 11. | Sweden | $158,712,545,000 | 2.6% | -7% |
| 12. | Hungary | $116,556,168,000 | 1.9% | -0.7% |
| 13. | Ireland | $98,500,713,000 | 1.6% | -8.8% |
| 14. | Denmark | $97,196,013,000 | 1.6% | -4.4% |
| 15. | Romania | $96,644,319,000 | 1.6% | -1.3% |
| 16. | Slovakia | $90,979,104,000 | 1.5% | -2.1% |
| 17. | Portugal | $89,898,447,000 | 1.4% | -6% |
| 18. | Finland | $73,506,695,000 | 1.2% | -6.6% |
| 19. | Greece | $62,198,045,000 | 1.0% | -4.5% |
| 20. | Slovenia | $44,713,956,000 | 0.7% | +5.7% |
| 21. | Bulgaria | $37,809,556,000 | 0.6% | -0.3% |
| 22. | Lithuania | $35,612,451,000 | 0.6% | -2.4% |
| 23. | Croatia | $28,004,414,000 | 0.5% | -0.4% |
| 24. | Luxembourg | $24,374,288,000 | 0.4% | +1.4% |
| 25. | Estonia | $18,658,603,000 | 0.3% | -5.9% |
| 26. | Latvia | $17,739,916,000 | 0.3% | -4.7% |
| 27. | Cyprus | $9,219,500,000 | 0.1% | -14.7% |
| 28. | Malta | $8,211,009,000 | 0.1% | +14% |
The top 10 importers accounted for 82.2% of the overall value for the EU’s total trade purchases during 2019.
Just five EU members increased their import purchases from 2018 to 2018 namely: Malta (up 14%), Slovenia (up 5.7%), United Kingdom (up 3.1%), Luxembourg (up 1.4%) and Netherlands (up 0.1%).
Leading the EU’s year-over-year import decliners were: Cyprus (down -14.7%), Ireland (down -8.8%), Poland (down -7.9%), Sweden (down -7%), Finland (down -6.6%) and Belgium (down -6.2%).
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 August 2, 2020
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases. Accessed on August 2, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 2, 2020
Wikipedia, European Union. Accessed on August 2, 2020
Wikipedia, List of European countries by population. Accessed on August 2, 2020
Wikipedia, Member State of the European Union. Accessed on August 2, 2020
