Spare a thought for the EU civil servants toiling for the taxpayer day in day out!

The total EU27 toilet stock is estimated at around 392 million units. And it is growing

faster than the EU in general ...

(Image: Tiia Monto, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35024567)

We should all spare a thought for the thousands of European Union civil servants (disparagingly sometimes called "EU bureaurats") who tirelessly toil for us taxpayers, day in day out. The range of work done by these often unnamed heroes is amazing.

Only the other day, I e.g. found out that, as part of their work aiding the EU Commission finally to regulate our toilets and urinals, civil servants in the EU General Directorate Environment have after several years of diligent work published a comprehensive 60-page study with hitherto unknown facts about toilet "user behaviour" and "best practices". As a "stakeholder", I was e.g. most excited to learn that "domestic flash toilets are used 7.75 times a day" and that the "lifetime of a domestic toilet is 12.5 years". And who would have thought that there are 155 thousand prison toilets in our Union? The EU Commission, working for us all, has of course realized that there is an urgent need to regulate the use of the 392 million toilet "units" within the Union!

Here are some key findings from the EU report:

In 2011, the total EU27 toilet stock is estimated at around 392 million units, including 277 million domestic toilets (70.7 %) and 115 million nondomestic toilets (29.3 %), mainly in office buildings (87 million, or 22.2 %) and tourist accommodations (23 million, or 5.8 %). In addition, it is estimated that about 18 million (4.7 %) units are potentially under the scope of public procurement. From Table 1 and Table 2, we can note that the number of prison toilets (EU total of 155 thousand units, 0.04 %) are insignificant compared to the other categories. --

From Table 3, we can see that the EU27 toilet stock of main contributing categories (domestic, offices and tourism) is expected to rise slowly by 2030 (range of 0.3-0.4 %/year), while for less contributing categories the toilet stock is foreseen to remain about stable (education) or even to decrease slightly (hospitals). All in all, the total EU27 toilet stock is expected to increase annually by about 0.3 %, with around 417 million units installed in 2030 (6.3 % increase over the two decades). --

 In 2011, the estimated total EU27 stock of urinals is about 44.3 million units, mainly in office buildings (42.8 million or 96.6 %). In addition, it is estimated that about 8.3 million (18.7 %) units are potentially under the scope of public procurement. From Table 4, we can note that the number of urinals in hospitals and prisons, and to a certain extent in tourist accommodations, is insignificant compared to the other categories. --

From Table 6, we can see that the EU27 urinal stock of the major contributing category (offices) is expected to rise slowly by 2030 (0.3 %/year), while the other significant category (education) is foreseen to remain about stable. All in all, the total EU27 urinal stock is expected to increase annually by about 0.3 %, with around 46.8 million units installed in 2030 (5.7 % increase over the two decades). --

 The typical lifetime of a domestic toilet is 12.5 years, 17.5 years for a nondomestic toilet, and 22.5 years for urinals. In general, this is limited not by the product durability but by the drive to refurbish facilities periodically; --

domestic flushing toilets are used 7.75 times a day, non-domestic flushing toilets 25 times a day and flushing urinals 40 times a day. For dual flush toilets, they are assumed to be used one full flush for every three reduced flushes. --