Europe from within

In Denmark, 42% of enterprises already use some AI technology. In Romania, 5%. The EU average has grown 2.6 times since 2021, to 20%, and Spain sits right on the average.

Within each country, AI clusters around the capital. It happens in almost every country that publishes regional data. In Spain, the Madrid region (27%) is eight times Melilla (3.5%).

Among people, the pattern repeats. One in three Europeans used generative AI in 2025. Among 16 to 24 year olds, almost two in three. Spain is above average, at 38%.

Digital skills are the foundation, and there the EU is far from its goal: 60% of people have at least basic skills, against the 80% it has set for 2030.

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Of every ten euros EU countries export, six go to other EU countries, just as in 2004. Slovakia and Czechia sell almost 80% of their exports within the EU. At the other end, Ireland and Cyprus, home to large multinational subsidiaries, look much further afield. Spain sends 62% to the EU.

Energy is the most visible dependency. The EU imports 57% of the energy it uses. Malta and Luxembourg import more than 90%; Spain, 69%. Only Estonia, thanks to its oil shale, comes close to self-sufficiency.

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In 2004, Romania's GDP per person was 35% of the European average; in 2025, 78%. Poland has gone from 52% to 81%, and Lithuania from 50% to 87%. The south has gone the other way: Greece has fallen from 95% to 68%, Italy from 114% to 96% and Spain from 101% to 92%.

By region, the gaps are even wider. The Dublin region (268% of the average), Luxembourg (245%) and Hamburg (196%) top the list. In Spain, the Madrid region reaches 125% and Melilla stays at 59%.

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Since 2010, democratic quality has fallen in 24 of the 27 EU countries. Hungary is the most severe case, followed by Greece, Slovenia and Poland. Spain has gone from 0.83 to 0.74.

20.9% of Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. In Czechia, 11.5%; in Bulgaria, 29.0%. Spain, at 25.7%, has the fifth highest risk.

On renewables, Sweden (65%) and Finland (53%) are already well past the EU's 42.5% target for 2030. The EU as a whole is at 26%, like Spain, and Belgium does not reach 15%.

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In 2024, Greece, Italy and Austria had more than 560 practising doctors per 100,000 people. Latvia and Belgium, about 340. Spain, with 464, is above the median of the 27 (410). The series are not always comparable over time, which is why the chart shows only the latest year.

The number of doctors does not tell the whole story. In 2025, 2.4% of Europeans aged 16 and over said they had gone without an examination or treatment they needed because of cost, distance or a waiting list. In Greece, which tops the ranking for doctors, it was 11.5%, mainly because of cost (8.8%). In Finland (7.8%) and Estonia (7.7%), mainly because of waiting lists. Since 2023, waiting lists have weighed more than cost across the EU as a whole. In Spain, 1.6%, almost all because of waiting, up from 0.4% in 2015 to 1.5%.

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In 2025, Finland made 456 card payments per person; the Netherlands, 376, and France, 320. Germany made 174, and Italy 162, among the lowest along with Romania (172) and Bulgaria (105). Spain, with 265, is exactly at the median of the 25 countries with data. Lithuania, Luxembourg and Ireland are above everyone, but their figures may reflect payment institutions based there with customers in other countries. Between 2022 and 2025, card payments per person rose in all 24 countries with data for both years, from 13% in the Netherlands to 92% in Romania.

Cash withdrawals with cards fell in 20 of the 21 countries with data for 2022 and 2025; in Romania they barely changed. The biggest drop was in Estonia, 28%. People withdraw cash with cards most often in Portugal, 30.6 times per person a year, and least often in Hungary (8.6), Finland (9.1) and the Netherlands (9.3). In Spain, 13.5 times, almost the same as in 2022 (13.6).

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In 2025, 7.7% of the EU population lived in a household spending more than 40% of its income on housing, down from 11.2% in 2015. Greece is the extreme case: 26.4%, although in 2015 it was 45.5%. It is followed by Denmark, whose figure is affected by a change in method, and Germany (11.2%). In Cyprus it is 2.4%, and in Croatia, 3.2%. Spain, at 7.2%, has the eighth highest share.

The other problem is space. In 2025, 16.8% of Europeans lived in a home with fewer rooms than their household needs. In Romania it was 40.4%, and in Latvia, 38.9%; in Cyprus, 2.2%, and in the Netherlands, 4.1%. Owning does not prevent overcrowding: of the eight countries with the most homeowners, seven have more overcrowding than the EU average; the exception is Hungary. In Spain it is below average but has risen from 5% in 2010 to 9.5%.

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Five countries already exceed the 42.5% renewables share the EU has set for 2030: Sweden (62.9%), Finland (52.1%), Denmark (46.5%), Latvia (45.5%) and Austria (43%). At the other end are Belgium (14.3%), Luxembourg (14.7%) and Ireland (16.1%). Spain, at 25.4%, is practically at the EU average (25.2%), up from 8.3% in 2004. Between 2014 and 2024, Denmark made the most progress (17.2 points); Croatia is the only country that went backwards.

As note N04 showed for household electricity, power prices vary widely from country to country. For industry, in the second half of 2025 they ranged from 6.74 cents per kWh in Finland and 8.52 in Sweden to 23.66 in Cyprus and 21.87 in Ireland. In Germany, 19.22. Since the first half of 2021 they have risen in all 27 countries: in Hungary by 119.9%, more than doubling; in Malta by just 0.9%. Spain is the fourth cheapest country, at 11.91 cents, 35.8% more than in 2021. European households pay 31.5% more for electricity than then; industry, 45.8% more.

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