The EU-27 holds 5.5 % of the world’s people and 18 % of its nominal output – behind the United States, ahead of China.
Europe is not a statistical unit, so every figure below is for the 27 member states of the European Union, labeled EU-27. The comparison is with the four largest economies outside it and with Russia. Most values are for 2025 and come from the World Bank, Eurostat, SIPRI and the Energy Institute. Where years or definitions differ, the line says so.
People
- EU-27: 452.0 million (1 January 2026, Eurostat), 5.5 % of the world.
- United States: 342 million.
- China: 1.41 billion.
- India: 1.46 billion.
- Japan: 123 million.
- Russia: 144 million.
World Bank figures for 2025, except where stated. The EU has a third more people than the United States and a little over three times as many as Russia.
Economy
GDP at market exchange rates, 2025, World Bank:
- United States: $30.8 trillion, 26 % of world output.
- EU-27: $21.2 trillion, 18 %.
- China: $19.5 trillion, 16.5 %.
- Japan: $4.4 trillion.
- India: $4.0 trillion.
- Russia: $2.6 trillion.
Exchange rates move these numbers. Part of the EU’s rise in 2025 came from a stronger euro, which averaged $1.13 against $1.08 a year earlier.
Adjusted for purchasing power, which values what money buys at local prices, the order changes: China $41.3 trillion, the United States $30.8 trillion, the EU $29.6 trillion, India $17.2 trillion, Russia $7.2 trillion and Japan $6.8 trillion. On this measure the EU produces about 14 % of world output. Eurostat’s 2025 compendium, on an older price base, put the share at 14.7 % in 2023.
Per inhabitant the EU is far behind the United States: about $47,000 against about $90,000 at market rates, by our division of the figures above. Adjusted for prices the gap narrows to about $65,000 against $90,000. Why the gap opened is the subject of Why is Europe falling behind?
Industry and research
Manufacturing value added, World Bank:
- China: $4.8 trillion (2025), about 27 % of the world.
- EU-27: $3.0 trillion (2025), about 17 %.
- United States: about $2.9 trillion (2025), our estimate from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis share of 9.5 % of GDP; the World Bank’s latest US value is $2.5 trillion for 2021.
- Japan: $0.79 trillion (2024).
- India: $0.53 trillion (2025).
- Russia: $0.35 trillion (2025).
Spending on research and development, share of GDP:
- United States 3.45 % (2023).
- Japan 3.44 % (2023).
- China 2.57 % (2023).
- EU-27 2.26 % (2024, Eurostat estimate).
- Russia 0.94 % (2024).
- India 0.65 % (2020, latest available).
Trade
For a fair comparison the EU figure leaves out trade between member states, which national statistics count as exports and imports. Goods trade, 2025:
- China: exports $3.77 trillion, imports $2.58 trillion.
- EU-27 (extra-EU): exports €2,646 billion (about $2.99 trillion), imports €2,532 billion (about $2.86 trillion).
- United States: exports $2.19 trillion, imports $3.51 trillion.
- Japan: exports $0.74 trillion, imports $0.76 trillion.
- India: exports $0.45 trillion, imports $0.75 trillion.
- Russia: exports $0.42 trillion, imports $0.30 trillion (WTO estimates).
The EU is the world’s second-largest exporter of goods after China and its second-largest importer after the United States. Its 27 members have no separate trade policies: the European Commission negotiates for all of them, which is why trade is the field where the EU already acts as one power.
Energy
Total energy supply and carbon dioxide from energy use, 2025, Energy Institute:
- China: 162 exajoules, 11.2 billion tonnes of CO₂.
- United States: 94 EJ, 4.8 billion tonnes.
- EU-27: 52 EJ, 2.5 billion tonnes.
- India: 39 EJ, 3.0 billion tonnes.
- Russia: 31 EJ, 1.6 billion tonnes.
- Japan: 16 EJ, 1.0 billion tonnes.
The EU uses about 9 % of the world’s energy and emits about 7 % of its energy-related CO₂. The weak point is where the energy comes from: in 2024 the EU imported 57.3 % of the energy it used, by Eurostat’s measure.
Defense, measured differently
Military spending is the hardest comparison, because no source counts every country the same way. SIPRI’s figures for 2025, in current dollars: United States $954 billion, China $336 billion (SIPRI estimate), Russia $190 billion (SIPRI estimate), India $92 billion, Japan $62 billion. SIPRI publishes no EU-27 total. The European Defence Agency puts EU member states’ spending at €418 billion, about $472 billion at the 2025 average exchange rate, under its own definition, with seven states’ figures still estimated. Estimates for China and Russia are especially uncertain: the EDA, citing Janes, puts Russia at about €132 billion at market rates but about €282 billion adjusted for prices. The EU breakdown is in How much does Europe spend on defence? and the per-country NATO series in How much do European countries spend on defense?
Big together, small apart
Taken together, the 27 are the world’s second-largest economy at market rates and second-largest goods exporter, roughly level with the United States in manufacturing, and home to a third more people than America. Taken one by one, even the largest, Germany, has about 6 % of China’s population and a sixth of America’s output. The EU-27 figures describe what exists on paper. They become power only in the fields where the 27 decide as one: today that means trade, the competition rules of the single market and, for the 21 countries of the euro area, the currency.
We update these figures once a year, each autumn.