In 2018, the industrial sector (excluding construction) accounted for 15.6% of the gross value added generated in the Swedish economy, which was within the EU-average (16.3%). The industrial sector in Germany is traditionally larger than it is in other EU economies. The proportion of gross value added generated by the industrial sector amounted to 23.1%.
The industrial structure in Germany and Sweden are similar. In both countries the automobile industry had the largest share on total industry in 2016. Whereby in Germany the share (19%) was slightly larger than in Sweden (16%). Mechanical engineering was the second largest sector in both Germany (16%) and Sweden (13%).
In the recent five years Sweden recorded a stable economic growth between 2.1% and 4.5%. In 2018 the annual growth rate of the gross domestic product amounted to 2.3% in Sweden and 1.4% in Germany.
Sweden is also EU-wide trailblazer in sustainable energy generation: 55% of the final energy consumption in 2017 were from renewable energy sources. Approximately 3.4% of the Swedish GDP were spent on research and development, which also made Sweden the top performer in the EU