Regions of Germany (NUTS 2) by active enterprises

Oberbayern had the highest active enterprises of 38 regions in 2022, at 239,698. Trier had the lowest, at 18,341. The median was 70,432 and the figure for Germany was 3.16 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest239,698Oberbayern

Lowest18,341Trier

Median70,43238 regions

Germany3,164,855History

All regions, 2022

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	2022 count	Change on 2021
1	Oberbayern	239,698	+1%
2	Düsseldorf	201,383	+1.1%
3	Köln	179,698	+1.1%
4	Darmstadt	171,869	+1.3%
5	Berlin	169,006	+1.8%
6	Stuttgart	155,487	-0.2%
7	Arnsberg	117,483	+0.5%
8	Schleswig-Holstein	112,500	+0.2%
9	Karlsruhe	108,201	+0.1%
10	Hamburg	90,172	+0.1%
11	Brandenburg	89,466	+0.3%
12	Freiburg	88,558	0%
13	Weser-Ems	88,159	+0.5%
14	Münster	87,906	+0.5%
15	Schwaben	79,057	+1.4%
16	Detmold	73,427	+0.3%
17	Tübingen	73,136	0%
18	Hannover	72,611	+0.9%
19	Rheinhessen-Pfalz	71,247	+1%
20	Thüringen	69,616	-1%
21	Mittelfranken	68,890	+0.7%
22	Sachsen-Anhalt	63,571	-0.2%
23	Lüneburg	58,159	+0.7%
24	Koblenz	56,059	+0.9%
25	Dresden	55,844	+0.1%
26	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	54,597	-0.1%
27	Niederbayern	53,191	+1.2%
28	Chemnitz	50,314	-0.7%
29	Unterfranken	50,221	+0.8%
30	Braunschweig	43,217	+0.9%
31	Oberpfalz	42,479	+0.2%
32	Kassel	40,155	+0.4%
33	Oberfranken	38,348	+0.4%
34	Leipzig	38,151	+1.1%
35	Gießen	37,163	+0.9%
36	Saarland	34,774	+0.5%
37	Bremen	22,701	-1.7%
38	Trier	18,341	+1.2%

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, 2022) [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, 2022. 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?period=2022. 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, 2022. 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?period=2022.

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

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_regions_of_germany_nuts_2022,
  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, 2022}},
  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?period=2022. 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, 2022
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?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/active-enterprises/germany-regions?period=2022.
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 239,698 in 2022, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which region has the lowest active enterprises?

Trier, with 18,341 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 NUTS 3 region, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprises, number (bd_size_r). Retrieved 2026-10-12.