The EU economy largely depends on a few countries, particularly its ‘Big Four’. As of 2025, Germany, France, Italy and Spain together account for 61% of the EU’s GDP.
However, countries’ shares of the EU economy change over time. The share held by the ‘Big Four’ has been declining in recent decades. It fell from 67.9% in 2005 to 65.3% in 2015 and 61% in 2025, according to Eurostat.
So, which countries have the highest and lowest GDP shares? And how have these shares changed across the EU over time?
Almost a quarter of the EU’s GDP comes from Germany
Germany is by far the largest economy in the EU. In 2025, Germany produced 24.1% of the EU’s GDP. The EU’s total GDP was €18.8 trillion in 2025, of which Germany generated around €4.5 trillion.
France is the second-largest economy with a 15.9% share, followed by Italy at 12%.
The fourth-biggest EU economy, Spain, has a share in the single digits at 9%. Together, the ‘Big Four’ account for 61% of the EU’s GDP.
The Netherlands completes the top five with a 6.2% share.
All other EU countries account for less than 5% each of the EU economy, as measured by GDP.
Poland is very close to that level at 4.9%. The share then falls to 3.4% for Belgium, the EU’s seventh-largest economy.
Sweden and Ireland both have shares of 3.2%, while the GDP share is at least 2% in Austria (2.7%), Denmark (2.2%) and Romania (2%).
15 countries produce just 11.2% of the EU’s GDP
In fifteen EU countries, GDP shares are below 2%, and together they produce only 11.2% of the EU economy.
Czechia (1.8%), Portugal (1.6%), Finland (1.5%), Greece (1.3%) and Hungary (1.2%) are still above the 1% mark.
The lowest GDP shares are found in Malta (0.1%), Cyprus (0.2%), Latvia (0.2%) and Estonia (0.2%).
20-year change: Italy and France are the biggest losers
When GDP shares over the last 20 years are compared, some countries saw significant changes, either positive or negative.
Italy and France are the biggest losers between 2005 and 2025. While Italy accounted for 15.6% of EU GDP in 2005, this fell to 12% in 2025. That means Italy’s share declined by 3.6 percentage points (pp) over this period.
Falling from 18.4% to 15.9%, France also saw a 2.5 pp decline.
Spain and Greece followed, both with a fall of 0.7 pp. However, as Greece has a smaller economy, the change was more significant there, with its share falling from 2% to 1.3%.
Germany saw only a very slight decline of 0.1 pp over the last 20 years.
Poland is the biggest winner
Poland recorded the highest rise in GDP as a share of the EU total. Its share increased from 2.6% in 2005 to 4.9% in 2025, a rise of 2.3 pp. Considering the size of its economy, this is a remarkable change.
Ireland and Romania also saw increases of more than 1 pp, at 1.4 pp and 1.2 pp respectively.
While their shares of the EU economy remain small, Czechia rose from 1.2% to 1.8%, while Bulgaria increased from 0.3% to 0.6%.
10-year change: Germany’s share falls by 1 pp
There were significant changes even over the last decade, between 2015 and 2025. France’s share declined by 2 pp and Italy’s by 1.5 pp. Germany’s share of the EU economy also fell by 1 pp, from 25.1% to 24.1%.
Poland still recorded the highest growth over the 10-year period, at 1.4 pp. This shows that the Polish economy has been gradually growing and gaining a larger share of the EU total.
GDP per capita is different
Of course, changes in GDP do not take population size into account. GDP mainly reflects the overall size of a country’s economy.
It also does not show changes in GDP per capita across EU countries, since GDP and GDP per capita are different indicators.
GDP per capita in purchasing power standards (PPS) is widely used to compare countries, as the cost of living varies significantly across the EU.
Annual gross average wages also differ largely across Europe.