The Mediterranean and Black Sea basins

The Mediterranean and the Black Sea are two almost closed sea basins bordering the European Union's coasts. As these basins are situated at the crossroads of several continents, they are also business and trading areas for the Member States and particularly for the respective coastal states and their coastal regions.

This publication aims at presenting data in the framework of the EU Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), using the sea basin approach. This approach takes into account the activities and sectors developed in each EU basin and in the coastal regions which border these sea areas.

In 2009, EU Mediterranean coastal regions (NUTS 3) housed 13.3% of the active population of the EU and EU Mediterranean ports dealt with 28% of the gross weight of goods handled in all EU ports. EU Black Sea coastal regions (NUTS 3) housed 0.4% of the active population of the EU and EU Black Sea ports dealt with 1.7% of the gross weight of the goods handled in all EU ports.