European Heat Pump Market Statistics

European heat pump sales fell by 22% in 2024, to around 2.31 million units across 19 countries, after a decade of growth that peaked in 2022¹. The United Kingdom was the exception in that dataset: the only country reported by the European Heat Pump Association to record growth, with a 38,000 unit increase over 2023². EHPA's own figures put the UK rise at 56% for the year¹.

The headline European number hides a wide spread. Norway sold 48.1 heat pumps per 1,000 households in 2024 and Finland 32.8, while the United Kingdom sold 3.5¹. The number of heat pump units installed in the UK is just 7% of that in France². Nearly half of Europe's heat pump market is concentrated in three countries, France, Italy and Germany, and adding Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands takes that share past two-thirds³.

This page sets out what the published European statistics cover, which countries they include, what has driven the numbers up and down since 2021, and what the data says about the UK's position. It draws on the European Heat Pump Association's market reports, the IEA Heat Pump Centre's market data, UK government statistics and independent reporting.

What the European heat pump statistics cover

The core dataset is compiled by the European Heat Pump Association, a Brussels-based trade body whose membership spans heat pump and component manufacturers, research institutes, universities, testing labs and energy agencies, and which coordinates the European Quality label for heat pumps⁵. Its annual market report is the reference point for European sales figures, and the association's own description of its role is that it "compiles the annual sales statistics and market outlook"⁵.

The country coverage has widened over time. EHPA's 2024 reporting covers 19 European countries¹. Its 2023 analysis covered 16 markets⁶, and one of its country lists names Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK⁶. The IEA Heat Pump Centre, which publishes the Heat Pumping Technologies market data, aggregates first-quarter sales across Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland⁷.

The figures are sales, not installations, and they cover all heat pump types unless a report says otherwise. EHPA's 2024 dataset breaks out heating-only air-to-water units separately, at 668,000 sold across the 19 countries¹. The UK's own deployment statistics, published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, monitor hydronic heat pumps and cover the United Kingdom⁸.

The figures: a decade of growth, then a fall

European heat pump sales grew every year for a decade before turning. The association's data shows 1.12 million units sold in 2017 against an installed stock of 10.50 million, and 2.16 million sold in 2021 against a stock of 16.87 million⁹. Sales in 2022 reached more than 3 million units, a year-on-year increase of 38.9%, and the biggest absolute gains that year were in Italy at 133 564 units, Poland at 109 890, Germany at 102 310 and France at 84 665⁹.

The turn came in 2023. EHPA reported that sales in 14 European countries fell by around 5%, from 2.77 million to 2.64 million units, the first fall after ten years of annual growth⁶. Its later market report put 2023 sales at 3.02 million units across 21 countries, 6.5% lower than the previous year⁴. The two figures differ because they cover different country sets and product scopes, and both are published by the same association.

In 2024 the fall steepened. Around 2.31 million heat pumps were sold in 19 European countries, a drop of 22% on 2023 levels, taking the market back to where it had been before the peak¹. France remained the largest single market at 546,900 units, itself down 24% on 2023, with an installed stock of 6,554,200 units at the end of 2024¹. The UK moved the other way, with a 56% increase in sales¹.

Source: EHPA market report 2025 executive summary¹.

Sales per thousand households: the country rankings

Sales per thousand households is the measure that makes countries of different sizes comparable, and it separates the Nordic markets from everyone else by a wide margin. Norway recorded 48.1 sales per 1,000 households in 2024 and a stock of 632 heat pumps per 1,000 households; Finland recorded 32.8 sales and a stock of 524 per 1,000¹. The United Kingdom recorded 3.5 sales per 1,000 households in the same dataset¹.

An earlier comparison, from MCS, put average annual heat pump sales per 1,000 households at 1.1 in the Netherlands and 0.7 in the UK¹⁰. The gap is long-standing: the total number of heat pumps sold in the UK in 2017 was less than a tenth of the quarter of a million sold in France that year¹⁰. EHPA's own commentary on the 2024 figures is blunt, noting that despite the growth, the UK's per capita heat pump adoption remains among the lowest in Europe¹¹.

The Nordic position reflects more than climate policy. EHPA's reporting notes that nearly five times as many units were sold per household in the Nordic countries than in the rest of Europe¹². The association's 2025 market data shows over half of households in Norway, Finland and Sweden own a heat pump³.

What drives the numbers

Policy is the dominant variable. EHPA's analysis of the 2023 dip states that "policy change is the number one factor which comes back time and again, with variations depending on the country"⁶. For 2024 the association attributes the 22% fall across 19 countries to changes in government support schemes, naming Belgium and Germany². The EU's own delay to its Heat Pump Action Plan, postponed in February 2024 from its expected publication in early 2024, ran alongside the falling sales¹³.

Running costs and taxes matter as much as grants. EHPA has argued that the EU's focus on electricity tax is the right call, and its work on heat pumps versus boilers compares the taxes and running costs of the two¹⁴. The UK's own trade body makes the same point from the other direction: the Heat Pump Association says the new European market report highlights the need to solve the UK's electricity and gas price disparity¹⁵.

Cost reduction has also supported demand where it has grown. EHPA described cost reduction as crucial to a 10% year-on-year jump in heat pump sales across 16 countries, with around 2.62 million units sold in those markets¹⁴. The IEA Heat Pump Centre reported a 17% year-on-year increase in the first quarter of 2026 across the countries it tracks⁷.

Supply chain and skills sit underneath all of it. EHPA reported at the start of 2023 that the European heat pump sector needs a minimum of 500,000 skilled full-time equivalent employees by 2030¹². In the UK, NAPIT has urged more technicians to upskill into heat pump installation as sales reached record levels¹⁶.

How the UK compares, and how the four nations differ

The UK's position in the European data is one of rapid growth from a very low base. EHPA's 2024 dataset records the UK as the only country to experience growth, with a 38,000 unit increase over 2023², and a 56% rise in percentage terms¹. UK government figures put sales at a record 125,000 heat pumps in 2025, a 27% increase over 2024, with approximately 45,000 manufactured in the UK¹⁷. The Heat Pump Association reports over 125,000 units sold in the UK in 2025, a 27% increase on the previous year¹⁶.

The base is small. UK heat pump sales per household remain the lowest across Europe, at 2.08 heat pumps per 1,000 households sold on the Heat Pump Association's 2024 reading¹⁵. The number of units installed in the UK is just 7% of that in France². Of heat pumps sold in the UK, the UK manufactures around one third, with two thirds imported¹⁸.

The European statistics are compiled at UK level, and the UK government's deployment statistics also cover the United Kingdom as a whole⁸. The published European datasets do not break the UK down into England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so any nation-level comparison has to come from UK sources rather than from EHPA. For installation numbers by nation, see heat pump installation statistics and the nation pages for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The rules and targets behind the market

The EU's stated ambition is 60 million installed heat pumps by 2030. EHPA's 2024 market report projected around 45 million installed by that date, about 25% short of the ambition, and the association warned the EU could end up 15 million heat pumps short⁴. Reaching the 2030 scenario would require an annual growth rate of 21%, against a trend based on 2015 to 2021 sales of 18% growth every year⁹.

Product rules shape what can be sold. EHPA supports Ecodesign and Energy Labelling and has called for faster deliberations by the European Commission to avoid manufacturer uncertainty over possible requirements, as well as longer timelines for manufacturers to implement updated rules¹⁹. The association's work on this is supported by the EU project Compliance Services for Ecodesign¹⁹.

The UK's own framework is separate. The government's heat pump investment roadmap sets an ambition of up to 1.9 million installations a year by 2035²⁰, and the Warm Homes Plan technical annex describes the ambition as UK-level²¹. The UK's deployment statistics are published to monitor hydronic heat pumps⁸. On the European side, EHPA has proposed an "EU Heat Pump Accelerator" covering the measures needed to make installation easy and affordable for end users, and has stated that the industry is ready to deliver²².

Sources: EHPA market report 2025 executive summary⁴, EHPA market report 2023 executive summary⁹, UK heat pump investment roadmap²⁰.

What the data means for household energy independence

Heat pumps are the technology the European data is counting, and the case for them as an energy security measure is made explicitly by the bodies that publish the figures. The IEA's special report on the future of heat pumps, reported by the Heat Pump Centre, states that the global energy crisis is driving a surge in heat pumps, bringing energy security and climate benefits²³. The European Commission's plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030 was accompanied by EHPA's call for an accelerator to speed installation²².

The scale of what is already installed gives the argument its weight. EHPA reported 23.96 million heat pumps installed in Europe's buildings in 2023, a 13.7% rise on 2022's total⁴. The 2022 installations alone had a thermal capacity of 28.18 GW and produced approximately 45.45 TWh of useful energy⁹. EHPA's 2022 reporting put the CO2 avoided at 54 Mt¹².

The association's current framing goes beyond buildings. It states that heat pumps are not only a key technology for clean heating but also a valuable flexibility resource for Europe's future energy system, with the next step being to ensure Member States put the right market rules and incentives in place²⁴. For a household, the dependence that remains is the same in every country in the dataset: the electricity supply, the network that delivers it, and the manufacturer behind the unit. What the European statistics measure is how many households have made that switch, and the UK's 3.5 sales per 1,000 households in 2024 places it near the bottom of the table¹.