EU countries by active enterprises

France had the highest active enterprises of 27 EU countries in 2021, at 4.83 million. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 41,841. The median was 595,131 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 31.51 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest4,827,641France

Lowest41,841Luxembourg

Median595,13127 EU countries

European Union (27)31,506,700History

Map of EU countries, 2021

Under 190K
190K to 400K
400K to 910K
910K to 1.9M
1.9M and over

count, 2021. Source: Eurostat, Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2021

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	2021 count	Change on 2020
1	France Series break	4,827,641	n/a
2	Italy Series break	4,462,146	n/a
3	Spain Series break	3,416,248	n/a
4	Germany	3,145,703	n/a
5	Poland	2,665,170	n/a
6	Netherlands	2,052,683	n/a
7	Czechia	1,254,110	n/a
8	Portugal Series break	1,231,887	n/a
9	Sweden	1,031,880	n/a
10	Hungary	949,587	n/a
11	Romania	934,417	n/a
12	Greece Series break	880,349	n/a
13	Belgium	843,146	n/a
14	Slovakia	595,131	n/a
15	Austria	589,615	n/a
16	Finland Series break	429,231	+1.6%
17	Bulgaria	382,086	n/a
18	Ireland	368,864	n/a
19	Lithuania	300,186	n/a
20	Denmark	291,188	n/a
21	Croatia	217,553	n/a
22	Slovenia	185,655	n/a
23	Latvia	138,359	n/a
24	Estonia Series break	136,867	n/a
25	Cyprus	83,062	n/a
26	Malta Series break	52,095	n/a
27	Luxembourg	41,841	n/a

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, 2021) [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, 2021. 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?period=2021. 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, 2021. 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?period=2021.

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, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_active_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  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?period=2021. 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, 2021
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?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries?period=2021.
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 4.83 million in 2021, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest active enterprises?

Luxembourg, with 41,841 in 2021.

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.