UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

European Union
Hungary, Luxembourg, Poland and Sweden, all countries
(with the notable exception of Luxembourg) which had not
adopted the euro as their national currency. In most cases,
the increase in public debt resulted from governments
bailing out 3 banks. Many governments have implemented
austerity programmes to reduce their budget deficits but
these cuts have actually pushed up levels of public debt
relative to GDP, delaying the return to growth. As a result,
most member states have experienced one or more periods
of recession since 2008, defined as two or more consecutive
quarters where GDP declined in comparison to the previous
period. Between 2008 and 2014, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus,
Italy, Portugal and Spain were all in recession for more than
40 months. The only countries to have escaped recession
altogether are Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia (Figure 9.2).
3. Spain managed to leave the bailout mechanism in 2014.
A serious debt crisis in the Eurozone
Nineteen member states 4 have adopted the euro as their
common currency. In 2013, the countries of the Eurozone
accounted for two-thirds of the EU28 population and for
more than 73.5% of its GDP. Average GDP per capita was
higher in the Eurozone than for the EU28 as a whole. Debt to
GDP ratios in the Eurozone are, however, significantly higher
than those of non-euro countries, even though these ratios
have risen at about the same rate. The notable exceptions are
Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, where the debt
to GDP ratio has soared.
Greece has been particularly hard hit by the economic crisis.
Between 2008 and 2013, it was in recession for 66 out of
4. The euro replaced national currencies on 1 January 2002 in Austria, Belgium,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal
and Spain. The euro was later adopted also by Slovenia (2007), Cyprus and Malta
(2008), Slovakia (2009), Estonia (2011), Latvia (2014) and Lithuania (2015).
Figure 9.2: Recession periods in the European Union, 2008–2014
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
UK
Note: For Croatia, data are only available up to the first quarter of 2014. Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia do not figure here, as they did not experience any recession
period. Slovakia is a member of the Eurozone. All other 18 members of the Eurozone are shown in italics.
Chapter 9
Source: OECD and Eurostat
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