Europe 2020 Strategy Indicators

The European Council's Europe 2020 Strategy objectives as expressed in the 5 targets of employment, research and development, climate change and energy, education and poverty and social exclusion monitored on the basis of Eurostat headline indicators are the subject of a statistical bulletin from Eurostat.

Employment is the first key objective of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The target set for 2020 is 75% of those aged 20-64 in EU27. The employment rate increased from 66.6% in 2000 to 70.3% in 2008 but follwing the economic crisis it fell again to 68.6% in 2011.

Research and development expenditure has grown from 1.86% of GDP in 2000 to 2% in 2010. The target for 2020 is 3% of GDP.

The headline indicators for climate change and energy have three elements: greenhouse gas reduction, increase in the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption and an increase in energy efficiency. The greenhouse gas target for 2020 is a 20% reduction on 1990 levels. A steady decrease has resulted in a decline of 15% by 2010 on 1990. The target for renewable energy is a 20% share of gross final energy consumption. It has grown steadily from 8.1% in 2004 to 12.5% in 2010. The target for energy efficiency for 2020 for the EU27 is primary energy consumption of 1474m tonnes of oil equivalent (mTOE). The level has fluctuated but increased from 1560mTOE to 1650mTOE in 2010.

The objectives for education for 2020 are a decrease in the number of early school leavers and an increase in the number of people completing tertiary education. The target for 2020 is to reduce the share of the population aged 18-24 with at most lower secondary education and not currently in tertiary education or training to below 10% and to increase the share of those aged 30-34 in the EU27 having completed tertiary education to 40% or more. The share of early school leavers has decreased continuously from 17.6% in 2000 to 13.5% in 2011. The share of those having completed tertiary education has also increased steadily from 22.4% in 2000 to 34.6% in 2011.

The fifth key objective is a reduction of poverty and social exclusion, including monetary poverty, material deprivation and lack of access to the labour market. The 2020 target is to reduce the number of people affected by at least one of the three dimensions of poverty by 20m. The number has decreased from 123.9m in 2005 to 113.8m in 2009 but increased again to 115.7m in 2010.