ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces some of the most relevant data on macroeconomic indicators and well-being. It presents data on the European Union and some of its member states relative to other countries in order to provide some international perspective on the performance of the European economies. The chapter looks at details of gross domestic product (GDP), and focus on the whole European Union with its 28 members. The reason is that for some of the indicators, data for the EU is available, but not for the euro area. In contrast, when it comes to the details of GDP, it makes more sense to look at the euro area specifically which in many respects resembles a national economy. Comparative data on GDP is presented in US dollars, as most international data sources use the dollar rather than the euro as the main currency for cross-country comparisons.
