Fig 10 – EU in the world

One of the achievements of the single market has been to make the EU a key player globally. As of today, the EU is one of the world’s biggest economies. Today, the EU
represents 5.8 % of the world population. It is second after the US in share of world gross domestic product (GDP). Intra-EU trade represents 16.8 % of global exports; it
is first in the ranking, followed by extra-EU trade (12.0 %), China’s trade (11.5 %) and that of the US (8.0 %). Intra-EU trade in services is second in the global ranking;
after extra-EU trade and before the US and UK. The EU is also the most important international tourism destination worldwide. In 2017, there were around 1.34 billion
international tourist arrivals across the world, among which 485 million were in the EU-27 (36 %).