EU countries by employment in services

Luxembourg had the highest employment in services of 27 EU countries in 2017, at 87.9%. Romania had the lowest, at 52.8%. The median was 71.3%. Source: the World Bank.

Highest87.9Luxembourg

Lowest52.8Romania

Median71.327 EU countries

Map of EU countries, 2017

Under 64
64 to 70
70 to 74
74 to 79
79 and over

%, 2017. Source: World Bank (modelled estimate), Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2017

%. Source: World Bank (modelled estimate), Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2017 (%)	Change on 2016
1	Luxembourg	87.9	+1.6 pts
2	Netherlands	81.2	-0.5 pts
3	Cyprus	80.4	+1.1 pts
4	Sweden	80	+0.1 pts
5	Malta	79.2	+0.2 pts
6	Denmark	79	+0.3 pts
7	Belgium	77.6	+0.2 pts
8	France	77	+0.1 pts
9	Ireland	76.1	-0.1 pts
10	Spain	75.7	-0.5 pts
11	Finland	74.4	+0.6 pts
12	Greece	72.8	+0.1 pts
13	Portugal	72.2	0 pts
14	Germany	71.3	-0 pts
15	Austria	71.1	+1.1 pts
16	Latvia	70.4	+2.2 pts
17	Italy	70.2	+0.2 pts
18	Lithuania	67.1	+0.2 pts
19	Croatia	66.9	+1.1 pts
20	Estonia	66.2	+0.3 pts
21	Slovenia	65.1	-0.6 pts
22	Bulgaria	63.5	+0.6 pts
23	Hungary	63.4	-1.1 pts
24	Slovakia	59.5	-0.5 pts
25	Czechia	59.1	+0.1 pts
26	Poland	58.1	+0.1 pts
27	Romania	52.8	0 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

People employed in services (ISIC Rev. 4 sections G to U), including trade, transport, hotels and restaurants, finance, public administration, education and health, as a percentage of total employment. ILO modelled estimates, ages 15 and over.

ILO modelled estimates: model outputs that fill years without a survey, not survey results. The latest year is a nowcast and is revised as surveys arrive. Sectors follow ISIC; where a country counts the armed forces, they are in services.

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

World Bank, World Development Indicators, modelled estimate. Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-18. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

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

World Bank. (2026). Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS) (EU countries by employment in services, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS

MLA 9

Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS), EU countries by employment in services, 2017. World Bank, 8 Oct. 2026, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employment-in-services/eu-countries?period=2017. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

World Bank. 2026. Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS). EU countries by employment in services, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employment-in-services/eu-countries?period=2017.

Harvard

World Bank (2026) Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS), EU countries by employment in services, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employment-in-services/eu-countries?period=2017 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{world_eu_countries_by_employment_2017,
  author = {{World Bank}},
  title = {{Employment in services (\% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS): EU countries by employment in services, 2017}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS},
  urldate = {2026-10-18},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employment-in-services/eu-countries?period=2017. Publisher attribution: World Bank, World Development Indicators, modelled estimate. Employment in services (\% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-18. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - World Bank
TI  - Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS): EU countries by employment in services, 2017
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
PB  - World Bank
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employment-in-services/eu-countries?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employment-in-services/eu-countries?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: World Bank, World Development Indicators, modelled estimate. Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-18. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
ER  -

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest employment in services?

Luxembourg, with 87.9% in 2017, according to the World Bank.

Which EU country has the lowest employment in services?

Romania, with 52.8% in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: World Bank, Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Employment in services: other rankings

Countries