European Defence Economy Afflicted by the Crisis Europe.Visions, No. 7, November 2010
The European defence sector generates €86 billion annually - and that is only taking into account the 2009 turnover of the European defence industry for the three areas - aeronautics, land forces and naval forces.
It is also a sector that creates some 400,000 direct jobs to which must be added 1.8 million jobs in the armed forces. Direct jobs in the defence industry and armed forces in Europe therefore amount to around 2.2 million. Exports to third countries account annually for around €40 billion, and defence activity represents approximately €240 billion annually at Union level, which feeds the economy through sub-contracting, operating expenditure and household spending in employment basins. To be complete, one must add the indirect impact on the economy of a vast range of intervention activity (security, rescue, disaster relief, etc.) and the effect of external operations, whether these are conducted on a national basis, as part of the Union framework, or within NATO, the United Nations or a coalition.