Do you still send Christmas postcards?

This Christmas, the coronavirus crisis will make it more difficult to meet family and friends. But that is no reason not to send them season's greetings.

The statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat) had a look at the figures on the printing of postcards across the EU, as well as on the people that make sure you greetings arrive safely.

Most postcards printed in Sweden

In 2019, 59.5 million postcards were printed in the EU. This amount has been relatively stable since 2017, after substantial falls in the previous years. However, it fell by 41% compared to 2009.

More than two thirds of the postcards produced last year were printed in only three countries: Sweden (14.5 million; 24% of all postcards printed in the EU), Germany (13.9 million; 23%) and Spain (11.8 million; 20%).

The corresponding figure for Finland was 1.56 million, according to Eurostat.

Less people employed in postal service

In the EU, 1.5 million people, aged 15 or over, were employed in postal services in 2019. This is a 7% decrease compared with ten years before. ‘Postal services’ include postal and courier activities, such as the pickup, transport and delivery of letters and parcels.

Among those employed, 0.9 million were men, representing 58% of the total workers of this sector.

In 2019, at EU level, on average 40 people per 10 000 inhabitants were working in the postal services sector. This is a decrease of 8% from 2009 (43 people per 10 000 inhabitants).