Europe in figures — Eurostat yearbook 2008 — presents a comprehensive selection of statistical data on the European Union, its Member States and candidate countries. The yearbook may be viewed as an introduction to European statistics and provides guidance to the vast range of data freely available from the Eurostat website. Most data cover the period 1996-2006 and some indicators are provided for other countries such as candidate countries to the European Union, members of EFTA, Japan or the USA (subject to availability). With just over 500 statistical tables, graphs and maps, the yearbook treats the following areas: the economy, education, health, living conditions and welfare, the labour market, industry and services, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, international trade, transport, the environment, energy, science and technology and European regions. This edition’s spotlight chapter covers Europe’s ageing society and associated demographic challenges. Each chapter (or sub-chapter) of the publication starts with a small introduction containing background information and policy relevance, as well as some details regarding the collection and interpretation of data; this is followed by a commentary on the data. The main focus of each chapter is a set of tables and graphs that have been selected to show the wide variety of data available for that particular topic; often these include information on how important benchmark indicators have developed during recent years within the EU, its Member States and the euro area. (Author/publisher)
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