With its recent expansion, the enlarged European Union (EU-25) achieves a total GDP slightly higher than that of the United States, based on 2003 figures. Total Union GDP amounted to € 10.15 trillion, compared with € 9.90 trillion for the United States and € 3.26 trillion for Japan. With the expansion of the EU, however, comes a marked decline in per capita GDP, as poorer countries are included. While EU-15 per capita GDP in 2003 was only a little way behind Japan, € 24,500 compared to € 25,800, the gap is now wider. EU-25 per capita GDP stood at € 22,400, and including the applicant countries would take the figure down to € 19,400. At this level, average wealth in an enlarged EU would be little more than half that of the United States (€ 35,700).
Structural differences between the economies of the EU and the United States and Japan are accentuated by the enlargement process. One indicator is the role of industry in the economy overall. For the EU-15, industrial production accounted for 28% of GDP. While this was already much higher than in the United States, (22%), the gap has widened further as slightly more industry-reliant economies have joined the EU. Industrial production's share of GDP in the EU, however, remains a long way below Japan's figure of 37%.
As for key infrastructure indicators, the enlargement process of the EU has created a sharp divergence with the United States and Japan. The EU-15 level of main line telephone connection, at 56 per hundred people, was comparable to Japan and somewhat behind the US figure of 66. Including the accession countries, the EU level of telephone main line penetration has fallen to 51 and, with the applicant countries, it would fall further to 45.
For electricity consumption, the divergence is even greater. The EU-15 rate of per capita electricity consumption, at 6,200 KWh per year was already some way behind that in Japan (7,600 KWh) and a long way behind the United States (12,800 KWh). With accession, the EU-25 per capita electricity consumption slipped to 5,800 KWh and, with very low rates of electricity use, the inclusion of applicant countries would take the figure down to 5,000 KWh, less than 40% of that in the United States.
As far as the integration of individual countries with the international market in goods and services is concerned, the expanded EU is not that different from the pre-existing EU-15, but quite different from either the United States or Japan. Taking the average share of imports and exports as a percentage of GDP as a measure, the EU-15 recorded a 26% level of trade integration. Already strongly tied to the European Union through trade, the inclusion of the accession countries has not altered this figure, although adding in the applicant countries would take the level of EU trade integration down to 25%. The level of trade integration recorded in Europe, even with the candidate countries, is starkly different from that in Japan (11%) and the United states (9%).
