In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production fell by 0.7% in the Eurozone (EA17), but rose by 0.7% in the EU27 in February 2011, compared with the previous month. In January, production increased by 3.6% and 1.0% respectively.

Compared with February 2010, output in February 2011 rose by 3.5% in the Eurozone and by 2.9% in the EU27. These first estimates are released by Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union.

Monthly comparison: Among the member countries for which data are available for February 2011, construction output rose in eight and fell in five. The highest increases were registered in the United Kingdom (+8.2%), Portugal (+4.3%) and Germany (+3.4%), and the largest decreases in Slovenia (-7.9%) and Slovakia (-3.8%).

Building construction decreased by 0.9% in the Eurozone, but increased by 0.6% in the EU27, after +1.5% and +2.4% respectively in January. Civil engineering rose by 0.2% in the Eurozone and by 1.2% in the EU27, after +16.3% and +12.9% respectively in the previous month.

There was no data for Ireland.

Annual comparison: Among the member countries for which data are available for February 2011, construction output rose in six and fell in eight. The highest increases were registered in Germany (+56.3%), Poland (+21.3%) and the Netherlands (+15.4%), and the largest decreases in Spain (-31.3%), Slovenia (-20.0%) and Bulgaria (-13.6%).

Building construction increased by 3.6% in the Eurozone and by 3.4% in the EU27, after -2.6% and +0.8% respectively in January. Civil engineering rose by 0.4% in the Eurozone, but dropped by 1.1% in the EU27, after -12.8% and -9.9% respectively in the previous month.

Annual data for Q4 2010 showed that output was down 23.3%.

The Eurozone (EA17) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).