Quarterly EU House Prices (2005-2013Q4)

With new data from Eurostat for the percentage change in q4 2013 of the house prices in the EU I constructed this graph. During the last quarter of 2013 the United Kingdom and Sweden saw big increases in their house prices, while house prices in the Netherlands and Cyprus decreased. For the EU as a whole house prices decreased with 0.1 percent compared to Q4 2012.

Eurostat

Projected Government Spending For Developed Countries in 2013

Denmark has the highest projected government spending as a percentage of GDP, with 58.4 percent. France and Austria also have notably high expentiture percentages, even above Noric countries Finland and Sweden. Greece doesn't have that high government spending after all with 48.3 it is around the average. Australia has the lowest government spending for the selected countries.

History of EU/Euro Zone (1929-2013)

Large overview of the history of the EU and the implementation of the Euro. From the first suggestion for a common European currency in 1929 until Croatia joining the EU in the beginning of 2013.

EU House Price Change Since Credit Crisis (2008-2012)

This chart with data from Eurostat shows the average change in the house prices in the EU since the credit crisis really started to break down in the United States, the second half of 2008, until the third quarter of 2012. Countries known for being in a big crisis at the moment saw the largest declines in their house prices, mainly Ireland and Spain. The Netherlands and Denmark have to highest household debt-to-gdp ratio's in the world and saw their house prices declines a lot as well. The last group of countries on the downside are several East-European countries for which Latvia and Lithuania saw big declines. In contrast, three out of four Scandinavia countries had their house prices increase substantially.

Luxetveritas

Global House Price Indicators (January 2013)

The Economist posted this overview of global house price indicators in January 2013. Some points of interest:

• Hong Kong saw the biggest rise in housing prices: 22 percent compared to year ago, while Spain saw its house prices contract the most.
• Hong Kong was also the country that saw its house prices increase the most after the start of the global financial crisis in 2007, while Ireland saw the biggest correction; house prices were slashed in halve. 
• Housing markets in Canada and France are most overvalued according to rent and income measures, while those in Japan and China are quite undervalued compared to their long term average values.

The Economist

EU Countries 2012 Government Debt Projections

Reuters constructed this graph, with data from the European Commission, which shows the projected government debt ratio's for the selected EU countries. As you cansee for most countries the debt to gdp ratio is well above it's 10 year average.

As you might have expected Greece has the highest debt to gdp ratio. On the other hand, Sweden's debt is even lower than it's 10 year average. Euro Area avearge government debt is expected to be at 95 percent.

Reuters

Historical Financial Crises: Percentage Job Losses From Peak

In this graph the percentage job losses from the peaks are shows for several countries during selected financial crises. Finland (1991: year of start of the contraction) saw the biggest decline in employment; almost 20 percent. Compared to Finland (and most other selected countries) the United States job market is currently not doing that bad. For Sweden of the selected countries it took the longest, during its crisis starting in 1991, for the job market the recover to pre-crisis levels, 17,8 years. 

Luxetveritas

Scandinavia Versus The Euro Zone

The economies Sweden and Norway in Scandinavia grow faster and both have a lower unemployment rate than the average of the Euro Zone. Fiscal positions are also considrably better in Norway and Sweden. The manufacturing indicator is slowing down for these countries lately as well though.

Thompson Reuters

Economist Poll of Forecasters (July 2012) for 2012, 2013

This graph shows the average forecast for economic data (2012 & 2013) of the main economies in the world. Except for Australia and Japan all the average real GDP growth figures in July have been lowered since June. Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the Euro Area are expected to have a minus growth for 2012. For 2013 only Italy and Spain are expected to see it's economy contract. Italy's inflation rate is expected to stay relatively high though, while Japan and Switzerland keep having low inflation rates. Spain is expected to see it's current account deficit shrink more and more.

Due to a request by the Economist this graph has been removed. 

View the graph here

EU VAT-Rates Compared

The value added tax raises the price on consumer goods. Almost all EU countries had a higher VAT-rate in 2012 compared to 2000. Perhaps surprisingly, Hungary has the highest VAT-rate, followed by Scandinavian Denmark and Sweden. Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Spain and Romania particularly saw their VAT rising in the last twelve years. Except for Cyprus, all of these countries have now a higher rate than the average for the EU of 21 percent.

Reuters

Oil Consumption (consumers+companies) Per Capita

As you were able to see in the post a few days ago, The United States consumes the most oil of all the countries. Perhaps surprisingly enough, it is not the country with the highest oil consumption per capita. Singapore takes the first spot, with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia second and third. The U.S. only takes the ninth place after two more oil producing countries, two European countries and Canada. Perhaps also surprisingly, Germany is on the bottom of the developed countries.

Update: this chart also shows consumption of companies, like aviation and oil refinery. That's why consumption per capita may be a bit misleading.

Oil Consumption Per Capita

Long Term Pension Age (OECD Countries)

OECD published this graph with the long term pension age in OECD countries. Denmark and Italy have their pension age linked to life expectancy, which means it will almost reach 69 in 2050. Iceland and Norway are already at 67, and increasingly more countries will reach that age in the next years. In some countries there are differences between woman and men.

OECD Pensions Outlook 2012

EU: More than a Million Jobs Available

This chart from the Guardian shows the number of jobs available in the countries of the European Union. Especially in Germany and the United Kingdom are a lot of jobs for applicable. This is more surprising for the United Kingdom, since its economy is not in particular good shape. In Italy and France, with comparable number of inhabitants as Germany and the UK are surprisingly low jobs available.

Click on the source for details per country.

The Guardian

Hourly Labour Costs European Union Private Sector 2011

This chart with data from Eurostat shows the estimated hourly labour costs in euro's for enterprises with more than 10 employees in the European Union. Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and France have the highest labour costs. Bulgaria, Romania and Latvia have the lowest costs.

Eurostat

Buildup of Total Debt (Consumers, Companies & Gov.) in 80s, 90s and 00s

In the left part of the graph you can see the total debt development for the United States across the Household, Corporate, Government and Government Sponsored Entity sectors. You can see that Great Depression levels are being reached again.

Not for every country data about debt levels are available for such a long period. There is data available however from 1980. In the right panel you can see the debt buildup for the three sectors combined (excluding financial sector) per decade as a percentage of GDP. You can see that from 1980-1990 Belgium, Sweden, Italy and Japan had the highest debt buildup. From 1990-2000 Portugal, Spain, Germany and Italy had the highest increase. From 2000 until 2010 however, Portugal, Spain, U.K., France, U.S. and Greece were among the countries with the highest buildup in their debt across the three sectors.

OECD Countries: Average Tuition Fees & Grants Received (Public Institutions)

This graph shows the average higher edution public tuition fees in dollars for the year 2004/2005. You can see United States was the most expensive country to study in that year. Australia and Japan come in second. Its the cheapest to study in Turkey, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Norway and Denmark.

In Turkey, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands (almost) every student receives a grant. In Belgium and Japan the least number of student receive a grant.

Source: CBS

Pictured: Sweden Versus the Euro Zone

This graph from Reuters compares the economy of Sweden with the economy of the Euro Zone as a whole. As you can see Sweden had a bigger economic downturn but grew faster since. Government debt and deficit are remarkably lower in Sweden compared to the Euro Zone.

Euro Zone Bond Spreads Above Historical Levels

This chart shows the Government Bond Spreads (difference between interest rates of 10 year government bodns of the selected countries verser the interest rate of german bonds). You can see that for some of the countries these spreads are higher than they were in the years before. So you may ask as the FT did: Why did we bother?

FT

House Prices Around The World (1970-2008)

This chart shows the development of the house prices around the world. In Europe, Belgium, UK, Netherlands, Ireland and Norway had the highest increases in the house prices. Germany, Switzerland, Swden, Italy and France had the lowest increases.

Outside Europe, Australia and Canada had relatively has relatively high house prices and relatively lower in Japans and the U.S.

Especially notice 1995 when in many countries house prices started to rise dramatically.

Business Insider

Elderly/Population in 2007 and 2040

This chart shows the population aging as the elderly (aged 60 and over), as a percentage of the population in a country for 2007 and 2040. Japan and the Western European countries have the biggest aging problems and in the United States, United Kingdom and the BRIC countries have relatively less problems.

This graph shows the growth in total public benefits to the elders from 2007 to 2040 as a percentage of the countries' GDP. Spain, Brazil and the Netherlands see the highest increase in the costs of public benefits to the elderly.

CSIS