Persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities

Number of persons who work in enterprises of professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M): employees plus working proprietors, partners working regularly in the enterprise and unpaid family workers. A head count, not full-time equivalents. Eurostat structural business statistics.

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Eurostat structural business statistics. From 2021 the series come from sbs_ovw_act under Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics; 2005 to 2020 come from the earlier table sbs_na_sca_r2. Values for 2021 are flagged as a break: value added moved from factor cost to basic prices and some activities changed coverage, so the change from 2020 to 2021 is not all real. Amounts are published in euros for every country, including those outside the euro area. Not the same as active_companies (INE business register, Spain) or employer_firms (US Census Bureau).

Key facts

Figures last updated on 2026-10-12.

Rankings

EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024

Top 15. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Germany: 2,724,207 personsGermany2,724,207France: 1,588,126 personsFrance1,588,126Italy: 1,539,663 personsItaly1,539,663Spain: 1,169,535 personsSpain1,169,535Netherlands: 842,398 personsNetherlands842,398Poland: 811,357 personsPoland811,357Sweden: 399,773 personsSweden399,773Belgium: 393,271 personsBelgium393,271Portugal: 358,250 personsPortugal358,250Czechia: 316,287 personsCzechia316,287Hungary: 310,078 personsHungary310,078Greece: 308,937 personsGreece308,937Austria: 294,974 personsAustria294,974Romania: 279,661 personsRomania279,661Ireland: 227,829 personsIreland227,829Germany: 2,724,207 personsGermany2,724,207France: 1,588,126 personsFrance1,588,126Italy: 1,539,663 personsItaly1,539,663Spain: 1,169,535 personsSpain1,169,535Netherlands: 842,398 personsNetherlands842,398Poland: 811,357 personsPoland811,357Sweden: 399,773 personsSweden399,773Belgium: 393,271 personsBelgium393,271Portugal: 358,250 personsPortugal358,250Czechia: 316,287 personsCzechia316,287Hungary: 310,078 personsHungary310,078Greece: 308,937 personsGreece308,937Austria: 294,974 personsAustria294,974Romania: 279,661 personsRomania279,661Ireland: 227,829 personsIreland227,829
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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