Trends in total energy intensity, gross domestic product and total energy consumption, EU-25

Some estimates have been necessary in order to compute the EU-25 GDP index in 1990. For some EU-25 member states Eurostat data was not available for a particular year. The European Commission's annual macroeconomic database (Ameco) was used as an additional data source. GDP for the missing year is estimated on the basis of the annual growth rate from Ameco, rate which is applied to the latest available GDP from Eurostat. This method was used for the Czech Republic (1990-94), Cyprus (1990-94), Hungary (1990), Poland (1990-94), Malta (1991-1998) and for Germany (1990). For some other countries and years, however, GDP wasn't available from Eurostat or from Ameco. With the purpose of estimating the EU-25, few assumptions were made. For Estonia, GDP in 1990-92 is assumed constant and takes the value observed in 1993. For Slovakia, GDP in 1990-91 takes the value of 1992. For Malta, GDP in 1990 is assumed to be equal to GDP in 1991. These assumptions do not distort the trend observed for the EU-25's GDP, since the latter three countries represent about 0.3-0.4% of the EU-25's GDP.