Cyprus compares itself with the EU

The Statistical Service has published “Cyprus in the EU scale” for 2008, showing Cyprus compared with other EU countries.
Cyprus had a real GDP growth rate of 4.4% in 2007 compared with an EU average of 2.9%.
The services sector employs 75.1% of the workforce in Cyprus, compared with 69.1% in the EU 27.
According to the data, Cyprus had one of the fastest growth rates of population in 2008, rising by 2% compared with an EU 27 average of 0.5%. The population growth rate was beaten only by Ireland, whose population rose by 2.4%.
Cyprus has a fairly low share of the population aged 65 and over, at 12.3% in 2007, compared with an EU average of 16.9%. The lowest country is again Ireland, with 11.1%.
The old age dependency ratio in Cyprus is 43.3% compared with 48.6% in the EU. Cyprus enjoys the highest life expectancy for males in the EU at 78.8 years, the same as Sweden, which is also joint first. However, life expectancy for women, while high at 82.4, is not the highest in the EU.
The total fertility rate in Cyprus, which represents the number of women of childbearing age giving birth was 1.47, which is around the middle of the EU average.
Cyprus has the highest rate of marriages in the EU after Romania, at 7.5 per thousand persons, compared with 8.8 in Romania.
The divorce rate is among the lowest, at 2.1, although the lowest are Ireland and Italy, with 0.8.
Cyprus enjoyed one of the highest employment rate growth rates in 2007, with employment rising by 3.2% compared with an EU average of 1.8%. However, it was beaten by Poland, with 4.5% and Ireland with 3.6%.
Labour productivity per person employed is in the bottom half at 86.1, compared with 100 for the EU 27 average. However, the employment rate is 71% compared with an EU average of 65.4%.
Cyprus is the second worst in the EU for the gender pay gap, with women earning 24% less than men. Only Estonia is worse at 25%.
In Malta, on the other hand, the gender pay gap is only 3%.
The unemployment rate under EU definitions was 4% compared with an EU average of 7.1%.
Worryingly, Cyprus has a high risk of poverty for persons aged 65 and over of 52, the highest rate in the EU.
Cyprus scores well on a higher education: 30.5% of the working age population having tertiary education compared with 22.8% in the EU 27.
More than half of all students study in another EU country.
However, Cyprus scores less well on lifelong learning, with a score of 8.4% compared with an EU average of 9.7%.
The pupil teacher ratio in primary education is in the bottom half with an average of 16.8 in 2006 compared with a low of 10.4 in Hungary.
Somewhat surprisingly, despite the prevalence of many specialists, Cyprus has a fairly low ratio of physicians to the population at 260.7 per thousand in 2005 compared with 315 in the EU 27.
Public and private expenditure on health was 6.1% of GDP in 2005 compared with an EU average of 8.9%.
Public expenditure on health in Cyprus is considerably lower than the EU average, at 43.2%, compared with an EU average of 75.5%. Only Greece spends less at 42.8%.
Cyprus again scores badly on the production of waste. Municipal waste generated was 745 compared with 517 in the EU 27.
Eurostat says that there is no electricity generated from renewable sources in Cyprus. This must mean either that the roof-top solar water-heating systems have not been included or that the amount of electricity generated is so small that it is considered negligible. Cyprus uses crude oil for 96.7% of its energy consumption, according to the figures.
The data report that 20% of households had a broadband Internet connection in 2007, compared with an EU average of 42%. Only 6% of enterprises sold via the Internet compared with an EU average of 40%.
Finance and technology graduates are only 4.3% of the total compared with 13% in the EU 27. However, high-tech exports accounted at 21.4% of the total compared with 16.7% in the EU 27.
Cyprus scores 0.33 on the innovation index compared with 0.45 for the EU.