Estonia, with rate of 12%, was the member state least dependent on energy imports, while Denmark was Europe’s sole net exporter of energy in 2011, the EU’s statistical arm Eurostat said in a report.
At the opposite end, the highest energy dependence rates were registered in Malta (101%), Luxembourg (97%), Cyprus (93%) and Ireland (89%).
The energy dependence rate in the EU bloc was 53.8% in 2011, the data showed.
“The economic slowdown observed in the EU since the beginning of the financial crisis is also visible in the evolution of energy consumption,” Eurostat said.
It said gross inland energy consumption in the EU27 has decreased by 6% between 2008 and 2011, with Romania posting one of the largest declines among member states, of 10.2%.
Twenty-three EU nations registered decreases in their energy consumption between 2008 and 2011, and four increases. The largest falls were recorded in Lithuania (-24.5%), Ireland and Greece (both -12.3%) and Romania (-10.2%), and the highest increases in Malta (+16.9%) and Estonia (+4.8%).
The five largest energy consumers in 2011 in the EU bloc were Germany (316 million toe, -7.7% compared with 2008), France (260 million toe, -4.6%), the United Kingdom (199 million toe, -9.4%), Italy (173 million toe, -4.8%) and Spain (129 million toe, -9.4%), which together accounted for nearly two thirds of total EU27 consumption.