In 2024, EU countries imported €3 471 billion worth of services from non-EU countries.
This information comes from official statistics on the international trade in services by modes of supply (MOS) published by Eurostat today.
Most of the services (58.9%; €2 044 billion) were imported through a commercial presence within the reporting country (mode 3). Cross-border supply (mode 1) accounted for 31.3% of imports (€1 087 billion), consumption abroad (mode 2) for 6.6% (€ 229 billion) and the presence of natural persons (mode 4) for 3.2% (€111 billion).
Source dataset: ext_ser_mos
In 22 EU countries, the majority of service imports came through a commercial presence within their territory (mode 3). The highest shares of imports via commercial presence were in Bulgaria (81.7%), Hungary (78.1%) and Spain (74.5%).
Cross-border supply (mode 1) was the dominant mode in Greece, accounting for 68.8% of imports. Cyprus (43.8%), Sweden (37.7%) and Denmark (37.4%) also reported high shares.
Consumption abroad (mode 2) played a significant role in Denmark, where it accounted for 22.3% of imports. France (12.1%), Lithuania (10.8%), Croatia (10.4%) and Italy (10.3%) also recorded notable shares. For other EU countries, it accounted for less than 10% of the total imports.
The presence of natural persons (mode 4) was most pronounced in Cyprus, and Denmark, each with a 7.3% share, and in Belgium (5.4%).