Key figures on food chain – agriculture’s value added

Key figures on the European food chain - 2025 edition, published in December, traces the journey of our food from farm to fork. The publication covers the entire food chain, including production, processing, distribution, international trade, consumption and environmental concerns. Today, we focus on the value added by agriculture.

In 2024, value added from the EU’s agricultural industry amounted to 1.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), which was 0.1 percentage points (pp) higher than in 2009.

The ratio of the agricultural industry’s value added to GDP was notably higher in Greece (3.2%), Romania (2.5%) and Spain (2.3%) than in other EU countries; Bulgaria, Italy and Croatia recorded the next highest ratios, all at 1.8%. In 12 EU countries, the agricultural industry’s value added accounted for less than 1.0% of GDP, with the lowest ratios recorded in Luxembourg and Malta (both 0.2%). 

Between 2009 and 2024, the ratio of agricultural value added to GDP increased in 15 EU countries. Greece (up 0.9 pp), Latvia (up 0.6 pp) and Spain (up 0.5 pp) saw the largest increases. By contrast, the relative weight of the agricultural industry declined most sharply in Romania (down 2.2 pp), Bulgaria (down 1.4 pp), Malta and Croatia (both down 0.7 pp).

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Source datasets: aact_eaa01 and nama_10_gdp

The Key figures on the European food chain - 2025 edition offers essential data on the EU and allows you to compare developments across EU and EFTA countries. For a more detailed view of the EU’s performance in other fields, explore other Key figures publications.

For more information

• Key figures on the European food chain – 2025 edition
• Thematic section on agriculture
• Database on agriculture
• Agriculture facts visualization tool
• Key figures publications
• A look at European farms – agricultural census results
• Podcast episode on the 2020 agricultural census

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