Measuring the impacts of ESA programmes • Jan 2025
Space infrastructure and its applications play a crucial role in supporting Europe in overcoming the challenges it faces. Continuous public investment in space will remain essential to ensure sustainability and to prevent the loss of R&D capabilities and critical skills which safeguard and strengthen Europe’s sovereignty.
ESA’s space economy team coordinates
research on the impacts of space on Europe’s economy and society, in
cooperation with ESA programme directorates and to deliver to its Member States.
The research builds on institutional references, guidelines and best
practices, with the objective to prepare evidence for political decision-makers
on the impacts of public investment in space for Europe.
Prepared in support of ESA Ministerial Council 2025, the "Space Benefits for Earth" brochure highlights the benefits to the European economy and society of its Member States’ investment in space.
The brochure is available here.
In 2024, Europe’s public expenditures in space accounted for 0.07% of Europe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared with 2.2% of GDP dedicated to Europe’s research and development overall.
What makes space infrastructure particularly impactful is the exceptional economic and social return it yields compared to the relatively modest public investment. Supporting 11 of the 16 major critical infrastructures, space technologies bring resilience to sectors such as transport, energy, food supply, and public safety.
With funding equivalent to €15 per European citizen annually (compared to nearly €220 per citizen in the United States), ESA plays a key role in supporting European space capabilities.
The €16.9 billion of subscriptions at ESA Ministerial Council in 2022 are leading to industrial contracts and revenues to the European space industry, generating an estimated €22 billion of GDP (in value added terms) and €6 billion of tax revenues. These investments also support over 260,000 job-years (equivalent to nearly 33,000 jobs per year on average) primarily in scientific research and development, and manufacturing industries which outline significantly higher productivity than the average of the European economy.
Beyond the effects of industrial contracts, the space assets developed through ESA programmes deliver remarkable value to Europe’s economy and society. ESA programmes drive growth, support high value-added jobs, foster innovation and critical skills, and secure Europe’s strategic autonomy while actively working to safeguard its global competitiveness in an ever more complex economic and geopolitical context.
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