Agriculture and the applicant countries
By 2013, 12 applicant countries - ten of which became EU member states on 1 May 2004 - had 44% of the EU’s farmers and 23% of the EU's farmland. Nevertheless this 44% only received 14% of the EU subsidies following EU enlargement.
The agricultural sector in the first ten applicant countries produced 4.6% of the combined EU GDP in the year 2000, as against 2% in the existing EU-15. Furthermore, agriculture employed 21% of the total workforcen in the first ten applicant countries, compared with 4.3% in the then EU-15.
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