Corruption costs the European Union close to one trillion euros per year, according to the most pessimistic estimates cited.

Omissions

• The figure 'close to €1 trillion' is only the UPPER bound of the estimate range. The same RAND Europe study (2016) gives a range of €179 billion to €990 billion per year — the lower end is barely 18% of the headline figure.
• The underlying study (RAND Europe, 'The Cost of Non-Europe in the Area of Corruption') dates from 2016 and has not been superseded by a more recent official EU-wide estimate; the figure is widely recycled in subsequent reports (Greens/EFA, advokatsamfundet) but all trace back to the same 2016 source.
• More recent EU-level data (e.g. EPPO 2024: active investigations into damages of more than €24 billion, OECD Economic Surveys 2025) measure specific corruption-related damages, not the total macro-economic cost of corruption, and are far smaller in magnitude.

Sources

• PrimaryRAND Europe — The Cost of Corruption in Europe (press release)A new study has highlighted the true extent of the cost of corruption in Europe, with new estimates showing that up to €990 billion (£781.64 billion) in GDP terms is lost annually. The Cost of Non-Europe in the Area of Corruption Study by RAND Europe, commissioned by the European Parliament... The new figures from the study are far higher than the initial estimate provided by the European Commission of €120 billion.
• PrimaryRAND Europe — Estimating the Cost of Non-Europe in the Area of Corruption (project page)Findings: Corruption costs the EU between €179bn and €990bn in GDP terms on an annual basis. Related Commentary: Corruption Costs Europe Up to €990 Billion Per Year (22 Mar 2016).
• PrimaryOECD — Economic Surveys: European Union and Euro Area 2025 (Repurposing the EU budget)In 2024, the EPPO processed more than 6500 crime reports, an increase of 56% compared to 2023, with active investigations into damages estimated at more than 24 billion euro, of which 53% related to cross-border VAT fraud and 11% to the Next Generation EU funding (EPPO, 2025).
• SecondaryAdvokatsamfundet (Swedish Bar Association) — High-risk areas of corruption in the EU: A mapping and in-depth analysiscosts of corruption have been estimated at EUR179 billion to EUR990 billion per year, including indirect costs. This reduces the EU's GDP by about 6% annually – an estimated EUR990 billion... According to one estimate, the annual economic costs range from EUR 179 billion to EUR 990 billion. This translates into a 6% reduction of the EU's GDP – or nearly EUR 1 trillion.