BRUSSELS: European Union countries imported €3.471 trillion worth of services from non-EU countries in 2024, according to figures published by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office. The data are presented using an “international trade in services by modes of supply” framework, which tracks how services are delivered across borders and through in-country operations. Eurostat’s release put the scale of services imports alongside a detailed breakdown of the channels through which suppliers based outside the bloc provided services to EU customers.
The largest share of those imports was delivered through commercial presence, meaning services supplied in an EU country by an established local operation of a foreign provider. Eurostat said commercial presence accounted for 58.9% of the total, or €2.044 trillion. Cross-border supply, such as services delivered from abroad into an EU country, made up 31.3%, or €1.087 trillion. Consumption abroad represented 6.6%, or €229 billion, while the presence of natural persons accounted for 3.2%, or €111 billion.
Eurostat said commercial presence was the main channel in 22 EU countries. The highest shares of imports through commercial presence were recorded in Bulgaria at 81.7%, Hungary at 78.1% and Spain at 74.5%. The figures underscore how much of the EU’s imported services, as defined by this framework, are tied to foreign providers operating through local establishments rather than being delivered solely across borders from outside the bloc.
Commercial presence dominated services imports
Cross-border supply was the dominant mode in Greece, accounting for 68.8% of its services imports from non-EU countries, Eurostat said. Cyprus also recorded a high cross-border share at 43.8%, followed by Sweden at 37.7% and Denmark at 37.4%. Under the modes-of-supply approach, cross-border supply refers to services provided from the territory of one country into the territory of another, capturing transactions that do not require the supplier to establish a local presence in the customer’s country.
Consumption abroad, the category that includes services provided in the supplier’s country to customers from abroad, played its most significant role in Denmark, where it accounted for 22.3% of imports, Eurostat said. France recorded a 12.1% share, Lithuania 10.8%, Croatia 10.4% and Italy 10.3%. For other EU countries, Eurostat said consumption abroad accounted for less than 10% of total services imports measured under the framework.
Country patterns varied across the bloc
The presence of natural persons, which covers services supplied through individuals from one country working in another, accounted for the smallest share of imports at the EU level, Eurostat said. The largest proportions were recorded in Cyprus and Denmark, each at 7.3%, followed by Belgium at 5.4%. Across the bloc, the mode 4 category represented €111 billion of the €3.471 trillion total in 2024, reflecting a relatively limited share compared with commercial presence and cross-border delivery.
Eurostat’s publication highlights that the modes-of-supply framework can produce a broader measure of international services activity by including services delivered through local operations linked to foreign suppliers. In this approach, commercial presence captures services supplied within an EU country via a foreign provider’s establishment, while the other modes capture cross-border delivery, consumption abroad and services supplied through individuals. The 2024 figures total €3.471 trillion in imports from non-EU countries across the four modes. – By Content Syndication Services.