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Visualized: Who Contributes the Most to the EU Budget?
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This graphic breaks down each member stateโs net contribution to the EU budget for 2021, using data from the European Commission (accessed via Statista).
The data shows that nine member states contributed more than they received, with the largest contributions coming from Germany and France. The remaining 18 member states were net beneficiaries.
Data and Discussion
The figures we used to create this graphic are listed in the table below.
Country | Net Contribution (Million โฌ) |
---|---|
๐ฉ๐ช Germany | 25,572 |
๐ซ๐ท France | 12,380 |
๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands | 6,929 |
๐ฎ๐น Italy | 3,337 |
๐ธ๐ช Sweden | 2,826 |
๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark | 1,766 |
๐ฆ๐น Austria | 1,540 |
๐ซ๐ฎ Finland | 1,109 |
๐ฎ๐ช Ireland | 703 |
๐ฒ๐น Malta | -14 |
๐จ๐พ Cyprus | -172 |
๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia | -386 |
๐ช๐ช Estonia | -729 |
๐ฑ๐ป Latvia | -860 |
๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia | -1,398 |
๐ฑ๐น Lithuania | -1,544 |
๐ง๐ฌ Bulgaria | -1,727 |
๐ญ๐ท Croatia | -1,746 |
๐ช๐ธ Spain | -1,946 |
๐ฑ๐บ Luxembourg | -2,020 |
๐จ๐ฟ Czech Republic | -2,853 |
๐ง๐ช Belgium | -2,950 |
๐ต๐น Portugal | -3,132 |
๐ท๐ด Romania | -4,069 |
๐ญ๐บ Hungary | -4,206 |
๐ฌ๐ท Greece | -4,278 |
๐ต๐ฑ Poland | -11,910 |
The EUโs budget is designed to fund shared projects that benefit the union as a whole. Member states contribute to the budget based on their economic size and gross national income (GNI).
Resources are then redistributed from wealthier member states to promote overall cohesion and growth across the entire EU.
A Factor in Brexit
The UKโs status as a net contributor to the EU budget was one of several factors that influenced its decision to leave the EU. A common argument was that its contributions could be used for domestic priorities instead.
Data visualized by Statista shows that the UKโs contributions to the budget increased significantly after the 2008 global financial crisis.
What do Europeans Think of the EU?
Polls conducted by Allianz Research have shown that views regarding the EU differ significantly by country.
For example, in 2024, a majority of Spanish and Austrian respondents believed their country gained more advantages than disadvantages from EU membership. The opposite was true for French and German respondents.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
If you enjoyed this post, check out Europeโs Foreign-Born Population in 2023 on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.