Regions of Germany (NUTS 2) by active enterprises, 2023

Oberbayern had the highest active enterprises of 38 regions in 2023, at 243,560. Trier had the lowest, at 18,504. The median was 70,645 and the figure for Germany was 3.19 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest243,560Oberbayern

Lowest18,504Trier

Median70,64538 regions

Germany3,190,747History

All regions, 2023

count. Source: Eurostat, Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Regions	2023 count	Change on 2022
1	Oberbayern	243,560	+1.6%
2	Düsseldorf	202,963	+0.8%
3	Köln	181,536	+1%
4	Darmstadt	173,264	+0.8%
5	Berlin	170,919	+1.1%
6	Stuttgart	156,559	+0.7%
7	Arnsberg	118,162	+0.6%
8	Schleswig-Holstein	113,148	+0.6%
9	Karlsruhe	108,982	+0.7%
10	Hamburg	91,932	+2%
11	Brandenburg	89,829	+0.4%
12	Freiburg	89,579	+1.2%
13	Weser-Ems	89,020	+1%
14	Münster	88,930	+1.2%
15	Schwaben	80,173	+1.4%
16	Tübingen	73,881	+1%
17	Detmold	73,843	+0.6%
18	Hannover	73,166	+0.8%
19	Rheinhessen-Pfalz	71,666	+0.6%
20	Mittelfranken	69,623	+1.1%
21	Thüringen	69,226	-0.6%
22	Sachsen-Anhalt	63,068	-0.8%
23	Lüneburg	58,906	+1.3%
24	Koblenz	56,526	+0.8%
25	Dresden	55,503	-0.6%
26	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	54,481	-0.2%
27	Niederbayern	53,978	+1.5%
28	Unterfranken	50,757	+1.1%
29	Chemnitz	49,900	-0.8%
30	Braunschweig	43,548	+0.8%
31	Oberpfalz	43,180	+1.7%
32	Kassel	40,490	+0.8%
33	Oberfranken	38,674	+0.9%
34	Leipzig	38,399	+0.7%
35	Gießen	37,291	+0.3%
36	Saarland	34,720	-0.2%
37	Bremen	22,861	+0.7%
38	Trier	18,504	+0.9%

Other periods

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 regions are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size_r/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 NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r) (Regions of Germany (NUTS 2) by active enterprises, 2023) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size_r/default/table

MLA 9

Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r), Regions of Germany (NUTS 2) by active enterprises, 2023. Eurostat, European Commission, 13 Mar. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size_r/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/germany-regions. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r). Regions of Germany (NUTS 2) by active enterprises, 2023. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size_r/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/germany-regions.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r), Regions of Germany (NUTS 2) by active enterprises, 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size_r/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/germany-regions (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_regions_of_germany_nuts_2023,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd\_size\_r): Regions of Germany (NUTS 2) by active enterprises, 2023}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size_r/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/germany-regions. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd\_size\_r). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd\_size\_r/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r): Regions of Germany (NUTS 2) by active enterprises, 2023
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/13
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size_r/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/germany-regions
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/germany-regions.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size_r/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which region has the highest active enterprises?

Oberbayern, with 243,560 in 2023, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which region has the lowest active enterprises?

Trier, with 18,504 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 NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r). Retrieved 2026-10-12.