European Book Publishing Statistics 2006

The total annual sales revenue of book publishers of the EU and the EEA in 2006 was approximately € 23.2 billion, according to the survey conducted by FEP; this represents a clear increase from the last estimate of € 22.2 billion for 2004. The largest markets in terms of publishers’ turnover in 2006 were Germany, followed by the UK, France, Spain and Italy.

A total of about 475,000 new titles were issued by publishers in 2006. The figure was taken from different sources, some of which included new editions or non commercial titles, and was rounded quite conservatively accordingly. There was an increase of an estimated 5% in the title output from the previous survey. European publishers held a total of over 5 million different titles in stock, the countries reporting the largest availability being the UK (around 2 million), Germany (over 1 million), Italy, France (both around half a million) and Spain (around 350,000).The countries reporting the largest new titles output were the UK (115,522*), Germany (81,177), Italy (37,991), Spain (35,347) and France (35,127).According to the report, a total of approximately 140,000 people were employed full time in book publishing in 2006, with a slight decrease compared to two years earlier.

*Includes new editions.

FEP Press Release

For further information: Enrico Turrin, +32 2 770 11 10 - eturrin@fep-fee.eu