EU countries by active enterprises

France had the highest active enterprises of 27 EU countries in 2023, at 5.38 million. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 48,813. The median was 664,228 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 33.31 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest5,382,659France

Lowest48,813Luxembourg

Median664,22827 EU countries

European Union (27)33,311,582History

Map of EU countries, 2023

Under 210K
210K to 420K
420K to 900K
900K to 2.1M
2.1M and over

count, 2023. 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, 2023

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	2023 count	Change on 2022
1	France	5,382,659	+3.5%
2	Italy	4,616,886	+0.8%
3	Spain	3,503,285	+0.5%
4	Germany	3,190,747	+0.8%
5	Poland	2,746,431	+2.6%
6	Netherlands	2,303,028	+4.5%
7	Portugal	1,404,910	+5.7%
8	Czechia	1,323,079	+2.4%
9	Romania	1,022,431	+4.9%
10	Greece	932,549	+1.6%
11	Belgium	905,376	+1.9%
12	Hungary	901,708	-7.7%
13	Sweden	860,890	+3%
14	Slovakia	664,228	+4.5%
15	Austria	602,763	+3.2%
16	Finland	453,742	+2.6%
17	Bulgaria	404,257	+2.6%
18	Ireland	401,359	+3%
19	Denmark	383,161	+0.8%
20	Lithuania	357,723	+8.6%
21	Croatia	240,684	+5.8%
22	Slovenia	202,054	+3.7%
23	Estonia	165,163	+7.3%
24	Latvia	146,256	+0.6%
25	Cyprus	90,964	+3.7%
26	Malta	56,436	+9.6%
27	Luxembourg Series break	48,813	+8.4%

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, 2023) [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, 2023. 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=2023. 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, 2023. 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=2023.

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, 2023 [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=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_active_2023,
  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, 2023}},
  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=2023. 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, 2023
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=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/eu-countries?period=2023.
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 5.38 million in 2023, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest active enterprises?

Luxembourg, with 48,813 in 2023.

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.