The European Space Agency’s (ESA) has released its Report on the Space Economy 2026, which gives a comprehensive overview of the latest developments shaping Europe’s space sector. ESA uses this report to help policymakers, industry and stakeholders better understand the status and trends of the space industry, globally and in Europe specifically. With Europe in focus, the report covers European budgets, industrial competitiveness, market accessibility, and demand conditions within global space-sector developments. The full report is available via the ESA Space Economy Portal.
This is an extract of ESA’s news item; view original here
Elevating the future of Europe
The report provides an overview of the macroeconomic landscape in which the space sector operates and core indicators which directly affect the industry. It also covers key trends and figures of the space sector in 2025, including public and private investment in space, space activity in terms of launches, mass launched, satellites launched and the space industry’s revenues both upstream and downstream.
This year a specific focus on defence investments development has also been added as global space budgets have undergone a structural shift due to an increase in defence spending at a global level.
Space investments
Governments around the world made a global public investment of 119 billion euros in 2025 with a slight three per cent decline from 2024, driven by US defence budget changes and flat NASA funding, while European space budgets grew by twelve per cent to 13.5 billion euros, a double-digit growth rate for the first time in the past 5 years, mainly due to increased national defence spending led by Germany.
The upstream market focusing on the spacecraft manufacturing and launch service provision segments is valued at 75 billion euros with 80 per cent institutional demand now dominated by defence. European prime contractors regained market share capturing 10 per cent globally and 65 per cent of their accessible market.
The downstream market valued at approximately 490 billion euros in 2025 is largely commercial. It comprises satellite communications, Earth observation and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-related markets. GNSS services dominate, accounting for 77 per cent of the market with 19 per cent of the global demand for downstream products and services originating from Europe. Satellite data, signals and services continue to be increasingly embedded in the wider digital economy.
Private investment in space surged 60 per cent globally, fuelled by a 177 per cent rise in US activity. Over the same time frame European space ventures raised 1.4 billion euros of private investment, an eight per cent drop from 2024, still posting the second-highest annual total on record.
Download the report
The report is based on a selected and carefully reviewed set of data from multiple sources including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Eurostat and other space/economic data providers, notably Eurospace, Novaspace and the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI).
Visit the ESA Space Economy Portal to download the report and for further information on how ESA analyses data on the space sector.
View the full news release on the ESA website published on 13 July 2026.
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