Press Release 12/07/2018

STRUCTURAL INDICATORS. EUROPE 2020

The Basque Country was at a higher level than the European Union-28 in five of the nine Europe 2020 indicators

Those that refer to Education were above the objectives set out by the EU-28 for the year 2020

The Basque Country was above European Union-28 levels in five of the nine indicators selected in the Europe 2020 strategy, according to Eustat data. In some of them, those relating to education, the objective set for 2020 has easily been reached.

In terms of the performance of the indicators over recent years, the most positive performance was seen in those relating to Employment, which improved 3.8 percentage points in 2017 compared to 2014 for the total population, and 3.7 and 3.9 points for women and men, respectively. Equally, the Poverty indicators also showed advances as a consequence of the improvement in the economic situation.

In the Climate and Energy group, compared to 2014, improvements were seen in the indicators that measure greenhouse gas emissions and the use of renewable energies, whereas those related to the consumption of energy worsened; however the latter two improved slightly compared to 2016. In the Education group, there was an improvement in the education drop-out rate, which reduced by 1.8 percentage points between 2017 and 2014; on the other hand the level of higher education in the same period worsened, in particular for the group of men, which dropped by 4.6 points. Finally, the indicator related to R+D registered a decreases of 12 hundredths, between 2014 and 2016, falling far short of the target set by the European strategy.

The Basque Country, compared to the European Union average, posted better results in five of these indicators: Primary Energy Consumption, Final Energy Consumption, Education Drop-out Rate, Higher Education Level and Population at Risk of Poverty or Exclusion.

On the other hand, the values of Employment Rate, Gross Interior Expenditure on R&D, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and of the Renewable Energies Quota in Gross Final Energy Consumption were worse than the European average. Compared to Spain, however, all of the indicators except the Renewable Energies Quota and the Final Consumption of Energy produced better figures for our autonomous region than for Spain.

In terms of the performance between 2014 and 2017, on the more positive side is the Employment Rate of 20 to 64 year-olds in the Basque Country. In 2017 (65.5%), the upward trend seen in 2014 was maintained, although it was still 9.5 points from the target (75%). There was an increase in the case of women as well as men.

The Education Drop-out Rate of the population between the ages of 18 and 24 and the Higher Education Level of the population between the ages of 30 and 34 did not only show better comparative results, but they exceeded the objectives set by the EU: less than 10% and at least 40%, respectively. Furthermore, the values for the school drop-out rate continue to improve year after year, reaching a rate of 5.4% in 2017, 1.8 percentage points less than in 2014. On the other hand, over the same years, the number of people aged 30 to 34 with higher education dropped by 2.8 points, primarily due to the reduction in the case of men.

The Population at Risk of Poverty or Exclusion indicator is a combination of three indicators:

Population living in households with very low work intensity: Individuals who live in households with a household work intensity under the 20% threshold set.

Population at risk of poverty after receiving welfare: The poverty threshold set for this indicator is 60% of the average national median equivalised disposable income.

Population at risk of serious material deprivation: Individuals who do not have resources at their disposal to confront at least four of nine situations: 1) pay the rent and corresponding bills 2) adequately heat his or her dwelling 3) meet unforeseen expenses 4) regularly eat meat, fish or equivalent proteins (alternate days) 5) spend a week on holiday outside of the home 6) have access to a car 7) have access to a washing machine 8) have access to a colour TV, and 9) have access to a telephone.

For the composite indicator, the Basque Country posted more encouraging rates than the European Union average, almost three points below the average in the case of the aggregate indicator of Risk of poverty or exclusion that affected 20.6% of the Basque population against 23.5% of Europe as a whole and 27.9% of the Spanish population in 2016.

Two indicators, both in the climate section, produced better figures than the EU-28 average: Primary Energy Consumption and Final Energy Consumption, stood at 81.2 and 90.9 respectively, based on an index of 100 in 2005. However, both indicators registered slight increases in the Basque Country between 2014 and 2016, which meant a slightly negative trend towards the target set. The two indicators were also worse in the European Union as a whole and in Spain, and this could be due to the greater level of economic activity as a consequence of coming out of the financial and economic crisis.

On the less positive side is the Gross Interior Expenditure on R&D in terms of GDP, which in 2016 was lower in the Autonomous Region (1.82%) than in the EU-28 (2.03%), both of which were still far from the objective of 3% and very much above that of Spain (1.19%).

Furthermore, two indicators, both in the climate section, produced worse figures in 2016 than the EU-28 average: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, with an index of 90.6 against the 77.6 of the EU-28, although better than the 116.4 registered in Spain, and the Quota of Renewable Energies in Gross Final Energy Consumption, which represented 14.3% in the case of the Basque Country, which was a long way not only from the target (20%) but also from the averages for Europe (17%) and Spain (17.3%) which both showed a positive trend.

Methodological note: The Europe 2020 Strategy, approved by the European Council in 2010, is the common agenda for the current decade. It prioritises intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth as a means to overcome structural weaknesses in the European economy, to improve its competitiveness and productivity and to underpin a sustainable social market economy. Its five main objectives are:

1) 75% of the European population between the ages of 20 and 64 should be employed.

2) Internal expenditure on R&D should reach 3% of GDP.

3) The "20-20-20" objective for climate and energy should be achieved: a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, savings of 20% in energy consumption and promoting the consumption of renewable energies of up to 20%.

4) The school drop-out rate should be lower than 10% and at least 40% of the youngest generation should have completed higher education.

5) The risk of poverty in the EU should threaten 20 million fewer individuals.

The monitoring of these objectives is carried out via several main indicators, which Eustat has created and compiled for the Basque Country.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62 More press releases on Europe 2020 Indicators in the Basque Country.