The cosmetics industry is one of the major industries in the EU. It employs many people and produces over 6 billion cosmetic products sold in the EU every year[1]. In fact, the EU cosmetics market size is larger than the US and Japanese markets combined, and it represents about one third of the global cosmetics market. EU's market was estimated to be worth more than 71 billion € in 2011 (including Switzerland and Norway, both members of EFTA)[2].
The largest markets in the EU are Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain. The average per capita spending on cosmetics in the 27 EU countries was 128€ per year in 2007.
In 2010, the Western European market showed stability, overall affected only by the exchange rate of the euro[3]. Significant growth is still expected especially in the Central and Eastern Europe. There, the market for personal care products grew by 58.1 % from 2004-2009, which was the world's highest growth rate, and is projected to grow by 54.3 % by 2014 by market researcher Euromonitor[4].
[1] Source: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/cosmetics/index_en.htm
[2] Source: http://www.cosmeticseurope.eu/about-cosmetics-europe/facts-and-figures-colipa-the-european-cosmetic-cosmetics-association.html
[3] Source: http://www.colipa.eu/about-colipa-the-european-cosmetic-cosmetics-association/facts-and-figures-colipa-the-european-cosmetic-cosmetics-association.html
[4] Source: http://www.cosmeticsbusiness.com/technical/article_page/Eastern_Europe__an_uneven_recovery/60039