EU countries by active enterprises

France had the highest active enterprises of 27 EU countries in 2022, at 5.2 million. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 45,021. The median was 635,781 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 32.59 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest5,202,687France

Lowest45,021Luxembourg

Median635,78127 EU countries

European Union (27)32,591,380History

Map of EU countries, 2022

Under 200K
200K to 410K
410K to 910K
910K to 2M
2M and over

count, 2022. 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, 2022

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	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	France Series break	5,202,687	+7.8%
2	Italy	4,579,525	+2.6%
3	Spain	3,487,503	+2.1%
4	Germany	3,164,855	+0.6%
5	Poland	2,675,865	+0.4%
6	Netherlands	2,204,281	+7.4%
7	Portugal	1,329,175	+7.9%
8	Czechia	1,292,436	+3.1%
9	Hungary	976,964	+2.9%
10	Romania	974,968	+4.3%
11	Greece	917,441	+4.2%
12	Belgium	888,925	+5.4%
13	Sweden Series break	835,539	-19%
14	Slovakia	635,781	+6.8%
15	Austria	583,947	-1%
16	Finland	442,264	+3%
17	Bulgaria	394,135	+3.2%
18	Ireland	389,654	+5.6%
19	Denmark	380,208	+30.6%
20	Lithuania	329,361	+9.7%
21	Croatia	227,408	+4.5%
22	Slovenia	194,876	+5%
23	Estonia	153,907	+12.5%
24	Latvia	145,441	+5.1%
25	Cyprus	87,707	+5.6%
26	Malta	51,506	-1.1%
27	Luxembourg Series break	45,021	+7.6%

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, 2022) [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, 2022. 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=2022. 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, 2022. 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=2022.

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, 2022 [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=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_active_2022,
  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, 2022}},
  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=2022. 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, 2022
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=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries?period=2022.
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 5.2 million in 2022, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest active enterprises?

Luxembourg, with 45,021 in 2022.

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.