EU countries by active enterprises, 2024

France had the highest active enterprises of 27 EU countries in 2024, at 5.62 million. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 49,737. The median was 682,029 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 34.19 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest5,615,765France

Lowest49,737Luxembourg

Median682,02927 EU countries

European Union (27)34,188,564History

All EU countries, 2024

count. Source: Eurostat, Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2024 count	Change on 2023
1	France	5,615,765	+4.3%
2	Italy	4,639,890	+0.5%
3	Spain	3,552,872	+1.4%
4	Germany Series break	3,240,939	+1.6%
5	Poland	2,821,170	+2.7%
6	Netherlands	2,424,297	+5.3%
7	Portugal	1,470,937	+4.7%
8	Czechia	1,366,927	+3.3%
9	Romania	1,030,603	+0.8%
10	Greece	964,851	+3.5%
11	Belgium	931,405	+2.9%
12	Hungary	905,324	+0.4%
13	Sweden	873,878	+1.5%
14	Slovakia	682,029	+2.7%
15	Austria	628,058	+4.2%
16	Finland	478,708	+5.5%
17	Bulgaria	415,087	+2.7%
18	Ireland	410,205	+2.2%
19	Denmark	379,306	-1%
20	Lithuania	371,281	+3.8%
21	Croatia	252,125	+4.8%
22	Slovenia	208,069	+3%
23	Estonia	168,518	+2%
24	Latvia	152,706	+4.4%
25	Cyprus	94,381	+3.8%
26	Malta	59,496	+5.4%
27	Luxembourg	49,737	+1.9%

Other periods

2024
2023
2022
2021

About this ranking

Enterprises that had turnover or employment at any time during the year, with or without employees.

Counts enterprises, which can run several local units, under the harmonised Eurostat and OECD business demography rules. Not the same as active_companies (the INE business register count for Spain) or employer_firms (US firms with employees). For the UK it counts every enterprise active at some point in the year, so it differs from registered_enterprises_total (UK Business Counts), a snapshot of the register in March.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the EU countries are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Eurostat, European Commission. (2026). Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size) (EU countries by active enterprises, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table

MLA 9

Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size), EU countries by active enterprises, 2024. Eurostat, European Commission, 2 Oct. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size). EU countries by active enterprises, 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size), EU countries by active enterprises, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_active_2024,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd\_size): EU countries by active enterprises, 2024}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd\_size). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd\_size/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size): EU countries by active enterprises, 2024
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/02
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest active enterprises?

France, with 5.62 million in 2024, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest active enterprises?

Luxembourg, with 49,737 in 2024.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Eurostat, European Commission, Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size). Retrieved 2026-10-12.