# Services Sector Export in Europe
## 4 Research and Discussion  
### Growth of Service Exports in European Countries  
To assess the changes in the indicators for service exports, in the first subsection of the Research and Discussion section we have considered the rates of service export growth in the analyzed countries and compared them with the rates of goods export growth. To determine the tendencies in service export growth in various European countries we divided all the countries into four quartiles, having ranked the countries based on their rates of service export growth in an ascending order, i.e., from lowest to highest (the changes in the indicators for service exports by country are presented in Appendix A, and the changes in the indicators for goods exports by country are presented in Appendix B). The values of growth rates of service exports and goods exports are given in Table 1. From 2005 to 2016, service exports in European countries increased by 60.1%. In the same period, goods exports increased by 33.7%. The data obtained on the prominent growth rates of service exports in Europe from 2005-2016 is in line with the data on global tendencies regarding the prominent growth rates of service exports [3; 4; 5; 9].  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline
**Total Growth and Growth in** & **The First and the Last** & **Service Export** & **Goods Export** & **Ratio of Service Export** \\
**Service Exports by Quantile/Service** & **Indicator Value of Service** & **Growth, \%** & **Growth, \%** & **Growth to Goods** \\
**Export Growth Rates** & **Export Growth in a Quartile, \%** & **Growth, \%** & **Export Growth, Times** \\ \hline Total growth in service and goods & & - & 60.1 & 33.7 & 1.78 \\ exports in 38 European countries & & -18.0 to 37.9 & 22.1 & 33.7 & 0.66 \\  & & -39.3 to 76.1 & 55.0 & 29.5 & 1.86 \\  & & -30.7 to 134.7 & 98.3 & 37.1 & 2.65 \\  & & -143.6 to 490 & 167.0 & 65.5 & 2.55 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Growth in service exports and goods exports in Europe from 2005–2016 1.  
From 2005 to 2016, the average annual growth in service exports amounted to 4.4%. The average annual growth in goods exports was 2.7%. The annual growth in service exports was 1.7 percentage points higher than the annual growth in goods exports. Based on the data obtained, we can conclude that in the period of 2005-2016 the aggregate growth in service exports in Europe was 1.78 times higher than the growth in goods exports. We also determined that in 25 out of 38 European countries in the period of 2005-2016 the rates of service export growth were higher than the rates of goods export growth.  
The highest values of service export growth were recorded in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia--490%, 356.2% and 274.3%, respectively. Among the countries of Western and Northern Europe, the highest rates of service export growth were demonstrated in Ireland, Iceland, and Luxembourg--159.2%, 143.6% and 134%, respectively.  
The data presented testifies that there are significant differences in the growth rates of service exports even among the countries with the highest values of service export growth. The indicators for service export growth of the first three countries, namely, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, were 2.6 times higher than those of the three countries of Western and Northern Europe--Ireland, Iceland, and Luxembourg--which demonstrated the highest growth in service exports from 2005 to 2016. The data we obtained correlate with the results of [PERSON] et al. [3] attesting that developing countries showed higher service export growth rates. The lowest rates of service export growth in the period considered were demonstrated by Norway, Ukraine, and Italy--22%, 18.7% and 10.2%, respectively. At the same time, Greece's service exports decreased by 18%. The countries grouped into the first quartile showed lower rates of service export growth than goods export growth. The data obtained demonstrates considerable differences in the rates of service export growth in European countries.