The sharing economy is ramping up in Europe with an expected participation of over 150 million consumers in the next year. In an article for Tech City News, Ryan Fowler (@RyanFowlerTCN) details this immense expected growth that could benefit many European consumers.

The ING International Special Report defines the sharing economy as the “utilisation of goods, driven and supported by digital technology, that would otherwise be idle or unused with payment being made in return”. In Europe, the sharing economy is being pioneered by companies like Airbnb and BlaBlaCar. An international study of almost 15,000 consumers across 15 different countries reveals that in the US about 9% of people are participating in the sharing economy compared to the 5% in Europe. However, 32% of consumers in Europe are saying that they will take part in the next year.

Currently, European sharing economy participation is highest in Turkey at 9%, followed by Spain at 6%, and the UK at 5%. This suggests a continental-wide scope for growth. Cars are currently powering the sharing economy with 9% being shared all over Europe, predominantly in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK. This ranking is not expected to last as holiday accommodation is expected to take the lead with every two out of five people (~42%) saying they will consider paying someone to borrow their holiday home over the next year. In comparison to cars and holiday homes, there appears to be less of an inclination to share personal goods such as clothing, electrical appliances and household appliances (only about 4% of each are currently being shared) as people prefer to have sole ownership over these products.

The majority of people participating in the sharing economy are well-educated consumers under the age of 35. These consumers have already started seeing gains with average annual earnings of €2,500. These financial benefits imply a significant supplementary income stream.

ING Senior Economist, Ian Bright (@brighteconomist), attributes this accelerated growth of the sharing economy to rapidly evolving technologies, both mobile and internet, that simplify the sharing process. “This is part of a broad shift in the way assets are utilised and entails a change in our conception of ‘ownership’.”

Though the power of sharing has yet to convince everyone in densely populated Europe, this “reduce, reuse and recycle” mentality is quickly spreading for it promotes efficiency and accessibility. What do you think, will Europe’s sharing economy outgrow the US’s? We will see the results in a year, until then we can watch Europe set a trend that we predict other nations will begin to follow.

Read the source article at Tech City News