Figure 2
The vertical axis represents the ranking, from 1 (highest contribution) to 27 (lowest contribution). The horizontal axis represents the years from 2009 to 2018 with yearly increments. Each horizontal line represents a different country, with a small box at the right end of the line containing the country’s two-letter code. From top to bottom, the country codes are as follows: E S (Spain), P T (Portugal), D E (Germany), I T (Italy), F R (France), D K (Denmark), I E (Ireland), E E (Estonia), S E (Sweden), F I (Finland), L V (Latvia), L T (Lithuania), P L, (Poland), S I (Slovenia), B E (Belgium), H R (Croatia), C Y (Cyprus), C Z (Czech Republic), G R (Greece), B G (Bulgaria), H U (Hungary), N L (Netherlands), R O (Romania), S K (Slovakia), M T (Malta), A T (Austria), and L U (Luxembourg). Spain (E S) is consistently ranked at or near the top, often in the first position, indicating its strong performance. Germany (D E) and Italy (I T) generally maintain high rankings in the top 5, but show some slight fluctuations over the years. Portugal (P T) and France (F R) are consistently in the top 10. The countries at the bottom of the ranking, such as Austria (A T) and Luxembourg (L U), generally remain in the lower ranks throughout the period. Many countries show significant changes in their ranking, with their lines moving up and down across the graph. For example, Croatia (H R) shows a notable increase and then a decrease in its ranking. The lines for some countries, particularly those in the middle and bottom of the ranking, are relatively flat, indicating a stable rank. The line for Bulgaria (B G) starts at the 6th position, then decreases to 13 and remains at 12th.Yearly performance of the ranking of the European Union member countries' GDP generated from the Blue Economy sectors with respect to the total European blue GDP (2009–2018). Source: Authors’ own elaboration; data from EU Blue Indicators (Blue Indicators, 2020)