European Union at a Glance presents an easily understandable overview of 30 selected indicators over 28 EU countries in time, which is probably the most condensed current summary picture of dynamics and disparities in the EU over many domains over time.

The Gaptimer Report No. 3 is timely publication very useful for discussion of the situation in the EU in light of the forthcoming new European Commission and European Parliament and at the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the largest EU expansion in 2004.

List of 30 selected indicators

	Indicators	Data range	Top country (last year)
1	Life expectancy at birth	1960-2012	Spain
2	Human Development Index	1980-2012	Netherlands
3	GDP per capita in PPS	1995-2012	Luxembourg
4	Median income in PPS	1995-2013	Luxembourg
5	Employment rate (15 to 64 years)	1992-2012	Netherlands
6	Activity rate (15 to 64 years)	1992-2012	Sweden
7	Share of gross fixed investment in GDP	1954-2013	Estonia
8	R&D expenditure (GERD), percent of GDP	1981-2012	Finland
9	Summary Innovation Index	2008-2012	Sweden
10	Tertiary attainment for age group 15-64	2000-2013	Ireland
11	Proportion of population aged 65 years and more	1961-2013	Italy
12	Old age dependency ratio, projections 2013-2080	2013-2080	Slovakia
13	Population growth rates, total	1961-2013	Luxembourg
14	Persons killed in road accidents per million inhabitants	1990-2012	United Kingdom
15	Death due to homicide, standardised death rate by 100 000 inh.	1994-2010	United Kingdom
16	Infant mortality rate	1960-2012	Slovenia
17	At-risk-of-poverty (percent of total population)	1995-2012	Czech Republic
18	At-risk-of-poverty (percent of elderly population)	1995-2013	Hungary
19	Income quintile share ratio S80/S20	1995-2013	Slovenia
20	GINI coefficient	1995-2013	Slovenia
21	Early leavers from education and training	1992-2013	Croatia
22	Healthy life years at birth - females	1995-2012	Malta
23	Healthy life years at birth - males	1999-2012	Malta
24	Households with broadband access	2003-2013	Finland
25	Regular Internet use	2003-2013	Luxembourg
26	Share of energy from renewable sources	2004-2012	Sweden
27	Urban population exposure to air pollution by particulate matter PM10	1997-2011	Denmark
28	Publications per million inhabitants	1994-2010	Denmark
29	Proportion of seats in national parliaments held by women	2000-2013	Sweden
30	Current account balance in % of GDP	1975-2013	Netherlands

It uses innovative time matrix presentation format that enables such condensed summary visual presentation over many countries and over time. Secondly, 30 selected indicators from many Eurostat indicators systems like Quality of life; Sustainable Development Indicators, Digital Agenda, Headline Indicators, etc. follow the orientation of Beyond GDP. Annex A1 provides Time Matrix Calculator to calculate time matrix for your own data. 

The 30 time matrices give rich food for thought and imagination of readers can find numerous comparisons and stories in the material. One of them is that the damage done to countries by the world financial crisis is seen in a much greater scale when we look for 28 countries beyond GDP and look at employment, investment share, risk of poverty, income distribution, health, etc.

While media and also official organizations are focusing on discussion of GDP growth rate, such orientation understated the severity of the crisis.

Other domains showed a more difficult situation:

•  employment rate fell in 20 EU countries;
•  in all 28 EU countries without exception share of gross investment in GDP decreased;
•  risk of poverty as percent of total population increased in 24 EU countries;
•  income distribution worsened as Gini coefficient and income quartile share ratio increased in 25 EU countries;
•  healthy life years at birth decreased for males and females in 15-18 EU countries.

The voyage through 30 time matrices for 28 countries compressed a very large amount of data, expressing multidimensional nature of development and well-being, indicating both visually and in numbers that very large differences exist between EU countries with respects to levels and dynamics. Using the innovative approach of time distance methodology the telling power of S-time-matrix provided a good summary overview at-a-glance over many domains with clear understanding to decision-makers as well as to the general public. Seeing with new eyes creates new knowledge and better understanding.

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