EU countries

For a fair comparison, the current 28 member states of the EU are taken into account in both years. In StatLine, the CBS statistical database, the number of member states changes every time new countries join the EU. For 2005, this article is based on 28 EU member states, StatLine data are based on 25 EU member states. Since 2005, Romania, Bulgaria (2007) and Croatia (2013) have joined the EU.