Universal civil registration and vital statistics are critical for truth, trust and COVID recovery in Asia and the Pacific

This article was written for The European Sting by Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Ms. Kanni Wignaraja, the Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, UNDP & Mr. Omar Abdi, Deputy Executive Director of […]

Commission (Eurostat) publishes first statistics on short-stay accommodation booked via collaborative economy platforms

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, published today first key data on short-stay accommodation booked via four private platforms active in the tourism sector. This is a result of the March 2020 landmark agreement between the Commission and Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group […]

Gloomy new statistics signify no end to Eurozone’s economic misery

The economic misery of the Eurozone doesn’t seem to have an end. According to a preliminary estimate by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service, GDP growth in the 19 member state monetary zone during the second quarter of this year was as miser as ever. On top of that, inflation continues to oscillate around zero, while […]

Real EU unemployment rate at 10.2%+4.1%+4.7%: Eurostat Update

This newspaper has been closely following the evolution of real unemployment over the past few years, on the base of Eurostat statistics. It has proved that real unemployment is much higher than the official rates. In January 2014 the European Sting, using Eurostat data, found that, in the third quarter of 2013 real unemployment was […]

Why do overwhelming proportions of EU’s youth feel excluded?

The Eurobarometer, the public opinion analysis tool of the European Commission, interviewed 10,294 Europeans aged between 16 and 30 in the 28 EU member states between 9 and 25 April 2016, and found that most of them feel economically and socially marginalized by the crisis. Of course, there are incredible differences among the member state countries, […]

EU to pay a dear price if the next crisis catches Eurozone stagnant and deflationary; dire statistics from Eurostat

Amidst the historically worst first week of a year since stock exchange records exist, the Eurozone economy remains stagnant and appears clearly unable to offer itself and the rest of the global economy a sigh of relief. All along the first week of the New Year Eurostat kept airing quite disappointing statistics for the Eurozone […]

How close is Eurozone to a new recession which may trigger formidable developments?

According to the latest statistics published in August by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, the euro area economy grew by a meager 0.3% during the second quarter of this year. Despite the fact that the mere three decimal points of more gross product typically illustrate a positive development for the Eurozone economy, there are other […]

Can the national and age groups pockets of unemployment cause irreparable damages to Eurozone?

It’s a bit awkward to consider a drop of the unemployment rate by one decimal point of a percentage unit as economic growth, and call it a reversal to the positive region, as some Brussels dignitaries and bureaucrats do. Incidentally, the euro area unemployment rate fell to 11.3% in February, down from 11.4% in January […]

Eurozone economy desperately needs internally driven growth

With economic growth in Eurozone proving to be weak, uncertain and widely varying between member states, government spending has become the only possible source of a much hoped for resumption of economic activities. On the other hand, stock exchanges have gained a lot since the beginning of the year, in a way that is not […]

Women to save Europe’s own labour resources

Labour market participation rates are socially sensitive variables and as such are slightly affected by short-term economic developments and modestly connected to cyclical changes. Because of that any attempt to follow the evolution of labour market participation percentages has to cover long periods incorporating more than one economic cycle. In view of that Eurostat, the […]

Eurozone very close to a sustainable growth path

After yesterday’s barrage of new positive statistics, the European economy seems to secure this summer position in the upwards pointing part of the curve. Business climate, economic sentiment and inflation all seem to turn out much better than expected readings for August. Even the abrupt fall of inflation in the euro area from 1.6% in […]

Eurozone: Statistics don’t tell the whole story

  Government sector deficits in Eurozone after having peaked in 2009-2010 are now not only levelling out but actually decreasing. According to Eurostat, the EU statistical service, in the first quarter of 2013 “ the seasonally adjusted general government deficit to GDP ratio was -3.5 % in the euro area (EA-17) and -3.8 % in […]

Lies and reality about incomes and wealth in the EU

The European Central Bank in April this year produced a statistical paper on the distribution of real household wealth in Eurozone countries. The study argued that in terms of net wealth the average German household appears much poorer than their counterparts in the crisis hit countries of south Europe, that is Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Italy […]

Commission tries to solidify the EU statistical system

The Greek ‘tragedy’ that became the script of the first chapter of Eurozone’s story of sovereign debt crisis, had in its forefront the fraudulent use of statistics. It suffices to remind that the 2009 Greek state budget was voted in parliament in December 2008 with a headline deficit of 2.8% of the GDP, only to […]