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    Geopolitical strength

    Global presence

    Economic, military and soft presence beyond a region's own borders, from the Elcano Global Presence Index.

    LiveElcano Royal InstituteUpdated annual

    Where Europe stands now

    Economic & societal impact

    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.

    EU
    4,216.8
    US
    3,323.6
    China
    1,980.1
    Europe leads the US by 1.3×Elcano Royal Institute · 2025

    Global presence

    Global presence index points · economic, military and soft weight placed outside a bloc's own borders

    0.0001500.0003000.0004500.0006000.000EUUSChina

    The EU is the source's own aggregate: only ties reaching outside the Union count, so trade between member states is not counted as global presence. This measures presence, not power.

    The story

    Measured by how much economic, military and soft weight a bloc places outside its own borders, Europe is not the small player it is often taken for. On the Elcano Global Presence Index the European Union scores 4,216.8 for 2025, ahead of the United States at 3,323.6 and China at 1,980.1. The composition is where the story turns: Europe's economic presence is 2,876.1 against America's 1,721.4, while its military presence is 297.5 against 719.5. Europe reaches the world through trade, investment and culture, and far less through force.

    Why it matters

    Competitiveness is the input; weight in the world is the output. But presence is not the same as power, and this indicator is the clearest illustration of the difference on the whole platform. The Union is present everywhere and decides slowly, because its projection is the sum of 27 national projections that often pull in different directions. A number where Europe leads is worth reading carefully, not celebrating.

    Policy context

    If Europe's presence already exceeds America's, the gap is not reach but conversion: turning economic weight into leverage, and speaking with one voice often enough for that weight to register. That is the argument behind every step towards a single market, common procurement and defence integration, and it is why the military component of this index is the one to watch over the next decade.

    How this number is calculated

    SourceElcano Global Presence Index, Real Instituto Elcano
    DefinitionAggregate of a region's economic (energy, goods, services, investment), military (troops and equipment) and soft (migration, tourism, sport, culture, information, technology, science, education, cooperation, climate) presence outside its own borders.
    EU aggregationThe EU is the source's own aggregate entity, counting only extra-regional ties, so trade between member states is not counted as global presence.
    ComparisonEurope, the United States and China, each on the same definition and the latest available year.
    UpdatesPulled automatically from the official source and refreshed every 24 hours. No manual edits.
    CaveatThis measures presence, not power. The institute is explicit that the EU's projection is the sum of members' own, which often pull in different directions, and that presence does not automatically convert into influence.
    NotesElcano Global Presence Index, published by Real Instituto Elcano and read directly from the institute's own published data. The index aggregates economic presence (energy, primary goods, manufactures, services, investment), military presence (troops and equipment) and soft presence (migration, tourism, sport, culture, information, technology, science, education, development cooperation and climate). The European Union is the source's own aggregate entity, counting only ties that reach outside the Union, so trade between member states is not counted as global presence. Annual, currently the 2025 edition. The index is not published per bloc beyond these actors, so there is no D9+ reading, and it does not enter the country view: presence is a scale measure, and comparing one country's presence with America's says more about size than about standing.

    Source & cadence

    UnitIndex points
    EU sourceElcano Royal Institute
    US sourceElcano Royal Institute
    FrequencyAnnual

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