Information on data
For decades, businesses have increasingly expanded their activities across national borders. In this regard, activities of foreign affiliates and foreign-controlled enterprises, the outsourcing of activities, foreign direct investment, and other forms of foreign engagement are vital elements of the economic globalisation of businesses.
Collecting and obtaining statistics on globalisation is not straightforward as statistics are usually collected on a national level and measure national circumstances. The globalisation of the world economy creates needs for new statistics. At the same time, it changes the conditions for the production of business statistics.
Eurostat is involved in several projects to develop new statistics on globalisation in business statistics, in cooperation with national statistical institutes and international organisations.
Economic globalisation indicators
Below you find information and explanations on the economic globalisation indicators which are available in our database folder with the same title.
- Exports of goods and services as a share of GDP: This shows the value of exports of goods and services divided by the GDP in current prices. Exports refer to goods and services leaving a country.
- Imports of goods and services as a share of GDP: This shows the value of imports of goods and services divided by the GDP in current prices. Imports refer to goods and services entering a country.
- Export to import ratio: This ratio shows whether a country has more exports than imports or vice versa. In addition to giving information on trade balances (exports – imports) this indicator has the advantage of being comparable across countries.
- Trade of intermediate goods as a share of total trade in goods: This shows the share of intermediate goods in the trade of the EU and its members. It is calculated as percentage in the total trade of intermediate goods and half of the dual-use categories including intermediate goods. Total trade is the sum of imports and exports.
- Trade of intermediate services as a share of total trade in services: This shows the intermediate services as a share of the total services trade for the EU and its countries. It is calculated as percentage of the intermediate services in the total trade volume (sum of exports plus imports).
- Trade in goods with top 5 partners as a share of total trade in goods: This indicator shows the share of trade with top 5 partners in the total trade (imports and exports) of the EU.
- Trade in services with top 5 partners as a share of total trade in services: This shows the share of services trade with the top 5 partners in the total trade (imports and exports) of the EU and its members.
- Investments in the EU by foreign investors: This shows the value of the investment stocks held by multinational enterprises in the economy of the reporting country. It is divided by GDP to allow comparisons across countries.
- Investments outside the EU by EU investors: This shows the value of investment stocks held by multinational enterprises in the economy of countries other than the reporting country. It is divided by GDP to allow comparisons across countries.
- Foreign direct investment flows: This shows the average of the inward and outward flows of FDI in the reporting country divided by the GDP of the reporting country.
- Employment in foreign controlled enterprises: This shows the share of employment of foreign-controlled enterprises in total domestic employment.
- Employment in foreign affiliates: This shows the share of employment of foreign affiliates in total employment of enterprises inside and outside the home market.
- Employment supported by EU exports: This shows the share of employment in the EU and individual EU countries supported by EU exports.
- Intra-mural business enterprise R&D expenditures in foreign controlled enterprises: This shows to what extent R&D is financed by enterprises under foreign control.
- Value added in foreign controlled enterprises: This indicator shows the share of value added generated by foreign-controlled enterprises in total value added generated by enterprises.
- Value added supported by EU exports: This indicator shows the share of the value added in the EU and individual EU countries supported by EU exports.
Foreign affiliates
Statistics on the structure and activity of foreign affiliates (FATS) provide information that helps to assess the impact of foreign-controlled enterprises on the European economy. The data is used to monitor the effectiveness of the internal market and the gradual integration of economies within the context of globalisation.
A mode of supply of economic activities abroad is commercial presence, which businesses achieve by setting up foreign affiliates in the territory of another country.
- FATS: these are considered to be enterprises resident in one country and controlled by a unit resident in another. There are 2 sources of information: inward FATS, which cover the activities of enterprises within the EU that are under foreign control, and outward FATS, which cover the activities of EU affiliates abroad;
- inward FATS: describe the overall activity of foreign affiliates resident in the compiling economy, for example how many jobs, how much turnover, etc. are generated by foreign investors in a given EU host economy;
- outward FATS: describe the activity of foreign affiliates abroad controlled by the compiling country, for example, how many employees work for affiliates of EU enterprises based abroad;
- control: refers to the ownership of a controlling share of the shareholders’ voting power and the ability to determine the general policy of an enterprise, for example by choosing appropriate directors;
- institutional unit (UCI): this is determined by proceeding up the chain of control of a foreign affiliate’s until until there is no further controlling interest. By doing so, possible double-counting of the same affiliates by several countries can be avoided;
Eurostat provides the data on inward and outward FATS, such as number of active enterprises, employment figures and net turnover. Data is available broken down by economic activity according to the NACE classification and partner country.
FATS data are produced annually. Data can be revised if newer data is received from the national statistical authorities.
The data are compiled by matching different data sources, such as:
- structural business statistics (SBS)
- business registers, foreign direct register, dedicated surveys
- EuroGroups register for the attribution to the country of ultimate control
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an international investment within the balance of payment accounts. Essentially, a resident entity in one economy seeks to obtain a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in another economy. A lasting interest implies the existence of a long-term relationship between the direct investor and the enterprise, and an investor's significant influence on the management of the enterprise.
A direct investment enterprise is one in which a direct investor owns 10% or more of the ordinary shares or voting rights (for an incorporated enterprise) or the equivalent (for an unincorporated enterprise).
An investment may take place through the establishment of an entirely new firm, so-called ‘greenfield’ investment, or through the complete or partial purchase of an existing firm via a merger or an acquisition.
There are 2 kinds of FDI:
- creation of productive assets by foreigners
- purchase of existing assets by foreigners, for example, through acquisitions, mergers, and takeovers
Eurostat provides the following data on FDI:
- direct investment positions by the ultimate and immediate counterpart and by economic activity
- direct investment income and flows by economic activity
- direct investment as a percentage of GDP
FDI differs from portfolio investment because it is made with the purpose of having control, or an effective voice, in the management of the enterprise concerned and a lasting interest in the enterprise. The direct investment includes the initial acquisition of equity capital and subsequent capital transactions between the foreign investor and domestic and affiliated enterprises.
The FDI data are produced annually. Data can be revised if newer data is received from the national statistical authorities.
The primary data sources are direct surveys addressed to resident statistical units and reports by the central banking systems on international transactions.
Global value chains
To stay competitive, enterprises increasingly organise their production globally in global value chains (GVC) by breaking up their value chains into smaller parts supplied by a growing number of providers located worldwide. These GVC comprise the full range of activities required to bring a product or service from conception through the different phases of production, delivery to final consumers and disposal after use.
GVC statistics can help measure organisational and spatial patterns in domestic, regional and global value chains, and monitor their effect on employment, wages, value-addition, innovation, skills, firm survival and turnover.
From an EU policy perspective, such analysis provides crucial data on the movement of EU jobs to extra-EU countries, dependency on foreign parts of the chain, and the EU's integration in global value chains. Therefore, statistics on GVCs are necessary to support policies on trade, job sustainability and economic development.
Eurostat provides the following data on the participation of businesses in GVCs:
- global value chains arrangements, by type of goods and services traded, business partner, and trade region
- international sourcing, by prevalence, type of business functions sourced abroad, destinations of sourcing, and types of business partners
- job creation and job loss as a result of international sourcing for high-skilled and low-skilled jobs
- barriers and motivation for international sourcing
- employment breakdown by business functions
- topical events impacting global value chains and international sourcing, such as COVID-19 pandemic
The data are produced every 3 years covering this 3-year period. For example, data were produced in 2018 and cover the period 2015-17, data produced in 2021 cover the period 2018-20.
Data are not revised.
The data so far has been received on a voluntary basis. However, starting from the reference period 2021-2023, the data will be collected under the European business statistics regulation. Data under this legislation will be released for the first time in the last quarter of 2025.
Eurostat, in cooperation with several EU and EFTA countries, has been organising GVC surveys, previously known as international sourcing surveys. The main motivation for these surveys stems from the need to measure outsourcing and offshoring, or more precisely, the relocation of jobs and value added abroad.
International sourcing as a part of GVCs and business functions are intertwined, and business functions can be used to describe the sourcing.