Cost of EU membership

The EU budget accounts for around 1% of the combined Gross Domestic Product of the 28 EU Member States. However, since Margaret Thatcher negotiated Britain’s rebate in 1984, the UK pays significantly less

UK contributions to EU budget (£ million)
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
12,653

3,294
4,336
7,382
8,082
8,467
10,465
9,785
8,500
14,129
15,197
15,357
15,746
18,135
18,777
18,000
Gross bill £18bn
Net cost £8.5bn
Cost per week £164m
0.47% of GDP

£1,790.4bn GDP in 2015
Rebate £5bn
EU funds to UK* £4.5bn

*Regional development and agricultural funds, private sector science research grants

Annual EU contributions per citizen (2014)
Luxembourg
Sweden
Denmark
Netherlands
Poland
Belgium
Finland
Germany
Austria
Ireland
France
Italy
Spain
UK
€422.25
€396.92
€393.34
€379.75
€338.20
€326.69
€326.02
€319.58
€316.29
€309.53
€297.22
€236.39
€214.55
€176.36
€166.43
€166.17
€158.56
€156.98
€154.45
€135.43
€124.50
€121.96
€115.42
€108.85
€91.18
€90.12
€67.85
€55.74
Cyprus
Greece
Slovenia
Portugal
Malta
Estonia
Czech Rep.
Latvia
Slovakia
Lithuania
Croatia
Hungary
Romania
Bulgaria 

Sources: HM Treasury, European Union Finances, ONS, European Commission