European book publishing stats

The European book publishing industry is worth an estimated €36-38 billion.


The Federation of European Publishers (FEP), which represents 28 national publishers' associations, has just published a new report pulling together statistics for 2015.  The report shows a mixed picture for European publishing, with some markets recording a lower turnover, but others reporting positive trends.

With a total of 575,000 new titles published, European publishers held a total of 22 million different titles in stock (four million of these were in digital format).  The countries with the most titles available were France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.  These five countries also reported the most new titles published.

Approximately 125,000 people were employed full time in book publishing in 2015 and an estimated 500,000 are employed across the entire book value chain (including printers, booksellers, designers etc).  Exports remained strong in 2015, contributing to an increase in revenues (also due to exchange rates), while the e-book market (now around 5-6% of the total) showed signs of stagnation.

Source: Publishing Perspectives.