The numbers behind Europe's competitiveness
Explore the 32 indicators that power the Momentum Index. Track whether Europe is closing or widening the competitiveness gap. Every metric is benchmarked against the United States, China and the world's strongest innovation economies, with transparent sources, methodology and updated frequency.
Live World Bank data · updated 25 Sept 2026
The starkest gaps to the United States, in real numbers
America pulled away. Europe flattened.
Output per person since 2000. The United States kept climbing while Europe stalled after the financial crisis, and China rose fast from a low base. The distance between the lines is the gap we track.
Source: Tradegate live prices · ECB FX · company filings
Technological autonomy
Can Europe build and own the technologies that will define the next economy? This category tracks the pipeline from research to product: patents and open-source activity on the academic side, and AI models, tech market value and high-tech exports on the commercial side. A region that invents but does not commercialise pays for the research and watches others collect the returns.
High-tech exports
How advanced a region's exports are. A high share means it sells frontier products, not commodities.
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Frontier AI models
Advanced AI models released by a region's labs relative to population. A direct, current read on who is building the frontier.
International patent filings
International patent filings, the ones made when an invention is worth protecting across borders. China now files more of them than anyone, and Europe files fewer than it did relative to the field.
All 8 indicators in this category
How the combined value of the three regions' largest listed companies splits between them.
How advanced a region's exports are. A high share means it sells frontier products, not commodities.
The filings a company makes when an invention is worth protecting across borders. Counted as filings, because one competes in world markets whatever the population behind it.
Commits and events per capita, a real-time read on software and AI activity.
Published foundation models from the region relative to population, a proxy for frontier AI capability.
Installed AI-supercomputer capacity by region, the hardware floor under every AI ambition.
How many of the 100 highest-rated language models come from each region.
Aggregate value of active university spin-outs based in the region.
Creative destruction
Economies stay young by replacing their champions. This category tracks whether Europe still does: how many unicorns it produces and keeps, how much value it loses when companies list in New York instead of at home, how old its largest firms are, and whether venture capital is deep enough to fund the next generation. Growth flight and talent loss are not abstractions; they are line items here.
Unicorns
How many billion-dollar private companies an economy has produced. The United States has more than four times Europe's count.
Value of the eight largest companies
The combined market value of each region's eight most valuable listed companies, in any sector. Who owns the companies that matter.
Age of the largest companies
Average age of the 30 largest listed firms. Europe's champions were built for a different century; America keeps replacing its own.
All 8 indicators in this category
Combined market value of each region's eight most valuable listed companies, any sector, updating live.
Average years since founding of the largest listed firms. Older means less renewal.
Count and value of unicorns that move their HQ or primary listing abroad.
Market cap of EU-headquartered firms that IPO on US exchanges instead of at home.
New listings per year on the region's exchanges, a read on whether public markets renew themselves.
New employer firms in the information & communication sector, per 100k inhabitants.
Privately held startups valued at 1bn USD or more. Counted as companies; the chart also shows them per million inhabitants, by country.
Total VC investment as a share of GDP.
Geopolitical strength
Power still runs on fundamentals: output, productivity and energy. This category tracks the core economy in real time, from GDP per capita and productivity per worker to the electricity flowing through Europe's grid right now, and alongside them how much economic, military and soft weight each region places beyond its own borders. A region that falls behind economically negotiates from weakness everywhere else, and reach counts for less than it looks when it has to be agreed by 27 governments first.
GDP per capita
Economic output per person. The broadest single measure of how prosperous a society is.
Output per worker
Output produced per person employed. The clearest read on whether Europe works as productively as the US.
Global presence
Economic, military and soft presence beyond a region's own borders. Europe's reach is the largest of the three; converting it into influence is the harder part.
All 4 indicators in this category
Output per person employed, constant prices. The main read on the innovation gap.
Electricity load as a real-time proxy for industrial production.
Economic output per person. The broadest single measure of prosperity.
Economic, military and soft presence beyond a region's own borders, from the Elcano Global Presence Index.
Context metrics
The measures behind the measures: research spending, talent, education and the regulatory environment. They do not sit in one of the three categories, but they explain why the categories move.
Raw research output. Europe still publishes heavily, but China now leads on volume.
Count of listed firms under 50 years old worth at least 10 billion USD.
New residence permits for highly skilled work, EU Blue Cards and researchers, per 100,000 inhabitants.
How much of the economy is reinvested into research. The seed corn of future innovation.
The density of people whose job is to create new knowledge.
The share of young people in higher education, the pipeline for the future workforce.
Share of venture funding going to mega-rounds, the public proxy for unicorn-stage capital.
Share of VC fundraising contributed by institutional investors.
Administrative burden on setting up a company, scored 0 to 6 where lower is lighter.
Index of trade openness and broader economic freedom.
Share of adults who do not start a business for fear of failure.
How much of the services economy is digital, a sign of a modern tradable tech sector.
Comparison figures are verified against the first-hand sources named on each card and shown with their source and year. Indicators marked "Live" update automatically; the rest are being connected to their sources or curated from public records.