Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Gross Value Added (GVA)

Open in Excel:

Gross Value Added (GVA) is conceptually the same aggregate as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They both measure the added value generated in an economy by the production of goods and services. The difference between the two concepts is that GDP is measured after including product taxes (e.g. excise duties, non-deductible VAT, etc.) and deducting product subsidies while GVA is measured prior to adding product taxes but includes product subsidies. For more information see the Background Notes.

When GVA is examined by A21 sector, Manufacturing (C) and Information & Communication (J) were the two largest sectors in 2018. The Wholesale, Retail and Motor trade (G) was the second biggest in 1995 declining to the third biggest in 2018. Construction (F), the seventh largest sector by GVA in 1995 increased to the fourth largest in 2005, then declined to the fifteenth largest sector by GVA in 2010 before recovering to the eleventh largest in 2018. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (A) declined from the fifth biggest sector by GVA in 1995 to the sixteenth biggest in 2010 before recovering slightly to the fifteenth largest in 2018.

Figure 4.1 Proportional composition of Gross Value Added (GVA) by A21 sector, 1995-2018

Table 4.1 GVA by NACE A21 sector, 1995-2018

Table 4.2 GVA by NACE A21 sector by rank, 1995-2018 (1 = biggest sector by value, 20 = smallest sector by value)

Table 4.3 EU Member State GVA by NACE A10 sector, sorted by Industry (NACE 5-39), 2018

GEO/TIMEGreeceFranceGermanyIrelandLuxembourgUnited Kingdom
199554.086589385073552.925201787488253.673684843083943.346007604562749.900913335093453.7836088318035
199654.397771437416653.041955873911253.580591489821143.493906397072649.346020794160653.8335157477602
199755.518976461060352.763921560023953.175643205256343.14357687971546.576025648637453.4829472128791
199855.960636896923352.795752943913652.787852149829542.889686769275542.954795036525853.0552999424656
199956.044529801916152.140376108913851.811659317966243.066858154188641.551947431673853.0168809474096
200054.517489251288750.831665888035850.504498193260543.269816292767637.425038841859253.0764557266464
200154.446151199765950.650915292447150.5754685619642.879317511044537.362100656455152.9735261780991
200254.400614312541951.200557892837651.396170489021844.193850384286738.579992262844253.1082357355984
200355.916051409210751.68403793407850.753876021706643.933968784088138.73989634567353.5099989990861
200456.053008423682551.530718082736850.428612972892743.454094762013136.348923916160953.1147798585033
200555.620978400196850.990041079182149.370929505269343.304350252499934.191621910270153.6756034979377
200654.538409686370550.385904430675648.696347723688242.060443467311932.16838011383452.7989397610491
200754.337968200957350.324965819672348.041939852841241.731105472806930.825404383394652.32159252191
200855.332287857732550.242425754047647.303563046266539.72327657942530.656900285390652.2431041313348
200956.514868251385951.717318873235348.671012098536440.931376504497733.18464467449952.2164050456063
201056.295813168137350.764120314288647.847153669140843.000040414899931.289109005190751.925495297457
201156.273183673002250.160922908687346.862047694619246.732737377373431.185272185867151.525861827493
201255.061299966600750.101360864447347.424803183604842.505446722480529.996778421670351.7488145520649
201354.786310525520450.486652337887148.098316138531141.982811490708328.807763946071451.5867309685589
201454.765355492922250.665353608272948.470857541391342.919107584321926.288532515080252.1427274042448
201555.906342399547651.070102616988948.950392440096147.5425328791125.167455721305852.522004462816
201656.020891951936351.293241963363549.218346922522346.921139907513826.399047799893753.0130645292947
201755.079087357281650.59457374875448.781370479132248.160034964069226.009592483283751.8142083486005
201850.213095113161248.668200558915847.564754609444726.428733204310851.2481297378944

Ireland's GVA as a percentage of Output remained relatively stable between 1995 and 2018, staying within the range 40% to 48%. This was less than the percentages for France, Germany and the UK throughout the entire period. Luxembourg showed the lowest GVA as a percentage of Output (26%) among EU Member States in 2018, while Greece (55% in 2017) reported the highest percentage.

X-axis labelGross Value Added (GVA)
Cyprus5.60976945402771
Luxembourg5.68026966936814
Malta8.22493274864576
United Kingdom9.91774956971039
France10.9228212394036
Greece11.0275715721493
Latvia11.9163041717534
Netherlands12.4096209891495
Spain12.4122216829907
Belgium13.7842980050076
Portugal14.061993968602
Denmark14.9907714670976
Croatia15.0083311533286
Sweden15.035807008735
Estonia15.1942246678346
Bulgaria15.5382745851162
EU 2816.0036365946749
Italy16.7860006347272
Euro area 1916.8795692999051
Finland17.5050142771043
Lithuania18.3798241322769
Austria18.9451712824393
Poland19.1294142996052
Slovakia21.9312030948545
Romania21.9906415611062
Hungary22.0860710436378
Germany22.6528146173535
Slovenia23.4607226677711
Czechia25.6334138653439
Ireland34.6308072461009

In 2018, Ireland had the highest manufacturing GVA as a percentage of total GVA (35%) among reporting EU Member States. The next highest reported was in Czechia (26%), while the EU Member States with the lowest manufacturing GVA as a percentage of total GVA in 2018 were Cyprus and Luxembourg (6%).

Go to next chapter Compensation of Employees (COE)