The first estimates from Eurostat, the  statistical office of the European Union, also show that January’s figures increased by 8.8% on those for January 2013 in the Euro area and by 7.3% across the 28 countries of the EU (EU28).Â
In terms of the monthly comparison, building construction in the Eurozone rose by1.7%, while civil engineering fell by 1.2%. In the EU28, the increase of 1.3% is due to building construction increasing by 1.6%, while civil engineering dropped by 1.8%.
The highest increases in production in construction were observed in Slovenia (+22.4%), Spain (+5.8%) and Germany (+4.4%), and the largest decreases in Romania (-4.3%), Slovakia (-3.9%) and France (-2.2%).
For the annual comparison, the increase of 8.8% in the Euro area is due to building construction rising by 9.1% and civil engineering by 7.6%. In the EU28, the increase of 7.3% was broken down into building construction rising by 8.1% and civil engineering by 3.8%. The highest were registered in Slovenia (+42.8%), Spain (+17.6%), Hungary (+15.9%) and Germany (+14.1%), and the largest decreases were in Portugal (-14.0%), Romania (-9.2%) and Italy (-7.9%).
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk