Construction output and the investment cycle
- Eurostat dataset
- sts_copr_a
- Reference period
- 2025
- Unit of measure
- index, 2021 = 100
Key estimates
- EU aggregate (2025): 104.2 index, 2021 = 100.
- Highest value: Greece at 152.2 index, 2021 = 100; lowest: Ukraine at 60.9 index, 2021 = 100.
- Cross-country mean 109.1 index, 2021 = 100, standard deviation 19.8, coefficient of variation 18.1% across 34 reporting countries.
- Aggregate change 2014→2025: +33.2% on a constant panel of 31 countries.
How has the construction cycle turned across Europe? Eurostat dataset sts_copr_a reports construction output and the investment cycle for 34 reporting countries, with 2025 as the most recent period carrying broad coverage. The European aggregate stands at 104.2 index, 2021 = 100. Construction is the most interest-rate-sensitive component of gross fixed capital formation, so its index leads the investment cycle.
The five highest values in 2025 are recorded by Greece (152.2), Slovenia (145.6), Italy (139.4), Croatia (133.8), Romania (132.6), all expressed in index, 2021 = 100. At the opposite end of the distribution sit Ukraine (60.9), Slovakia (84.0), Estonia (86.0), Sweden (89.7), Germany (90.4). The ratio between the highest and the lowest observation is 2.50, while the median country reports 106.0 index, 2021 = 100 against a mean of 109.1 index, 2021 = 100.
Dispersion is moderate: the standard deviation across countries is 19.8 index, 2021 = 100, giving a coefficient of variation of 18.1%. The mean sits above the median, which indicates that the distribution is pulled by the upper tail rather than being symmetric. Any European average quoted for this indicator therefore describes a synthetic country that few Member States resemble.
Between 2014 and 2025 the summed value across the 31 countries reporting in both periods moved by +33.2%. The largest relative increases are observed in Albania (+159.9%), Cyprus (+154.1%), Montenegro (+146.6%); the largest decreases, or the smallest increases, in France (-17.3%), Slovakia (-17.1%), Switzerland (-9.2%). Because the panel is held constant, this change is not an artefact of countries entering or leaving the sample.
Higher values are the policy-preferred direction for this indicator, so the countries listed at the bottom of the distribution mark the effective size of the European gap: closing it to the level of the fifth-ranked country would require the lowest performer to move by 71.7 index, 2021 = 100. The estimates above are reproducible: the dataset identifier, filter dimensions and reference period are stated in the methodological note, and the series can be re-downloaded from the Eurostat dissemination API at any time.
Methodological note
Source: Eurostat, dataset sts_copr_a ('Production in construction - annual data'), extracted from the Eurostat dissemination API (JSON-stat 2.0) on the dataset update of 2026-07-22. Filter dimensions: nace_r2=F; s_adj=NSA; unit=I21. Unit of measure: index, 2021 = 100. Reference period: 2025. Geographic perimeter: national reporting units with two-character geo codes (34 countries with a non-missing observation); European and euro-area aggregates are excluded from the cross-country statistics and reported separately. Descriptive statistics (mean, median, population standard deviation, coefficient of variation) are computed unweighted over reporting countries. Change over time is computed on a constant panel: only countries with a non-missing observation in both the base and the reference period enter the calculation, which removes composition effects but may differ from the officially published aggregate. No imputation, seasonal adjustment or re-scaling has been applied beyond what Eurostat performs at source. Flagged provisional and estimated observations are retained as published.
Source data
The underlying series can be inspected and re-downloaded from the Eurostat data browser.