140 million of European citizens are members of a cooperative – new report released by Cooperatives Europe

Cooperatives Europe releases today ‘The Power of Cooperation – Cooperatives Europe Key Figures 2015’. Statistics were collected during a 18-month long research project with members, combining the efforts and contributions of 40 national and sectoral experts from 34 European countries.

The report brings forward the impact of cooperatives across Europe, which provide more than 4.7 million jobs and have a total annual turnover of 1,005 billion Euros – more than the GDP of Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden combined. Significant information with up-to-date facts and figures on cooperatives – by sector and by country – is being provided, in order to increase the effectiveness of cooperative advocacy activities in Europe. In particular the strengths and the potential of the European cooperative movement are being highlighted.

Dirk J. Lehnhoff, President of Cooperatives Europe, commented: “The results of this report demonstrate the significant size and scale of the cooperative movement in Europe, an important precondition for achieving greater influence in shaping relevant European socio-economic policies. At the same time this report lays the foundation for greater research cooperation amongst our members and for learning from each other, in particular on how to grow and develop further cooperatives in the different European countries. ”.