EU countries by employment rate

Name: EU countries by employment rate, 2017
Creator: Eurostat, European Commission
License: Eurostat reuse policy (commercial and non-commercial reuse, attribution required)

Sweden had the highest employment rate of 27 EU countries in 2017, at 81.4%. Greece had the lowest, at 57.4%. The median was 72.9% and the figure for the European Union (27) was 70.9%. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest81.4Sweden

Lowest57.4Greece

Median72.927 EU countries

European Union (27)70.9History

All EU countries, 2017

CSV Chart (SVG)

%. Source: Eurostat. Retrieved 2026-10-08.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2017 (%)	Change on 2016
1	Sweden	81.4	+0.6 pts
2	Estonia	79.2	+2.2 pts
3	Netherlands	78.9	+1 pts
4	Czechia	78.5	+1.8 pts
5	Germany	78.3	+0.7 pts
6	Denmark Series break	76.6	+0.6 pts
7	Lithuania	76	+0.8 pts
8	Austria	75.4	+0.6 pts
8	Hungary	75.4	+1.7 pts
10	Latvia	74.6	+1.6 pts
11	Finland	73.2	+0.8 pts
11	Slovakia	73.2	+1.4 pts
13	Malta	73	+1.9 pts
14	Ireland	72.9	+1.6 pts
14	Slovenia	72.9	+3.4 pts
16	Portugal	72.5	+3 pts
17	Luxembourg	71.5	+0.8 pts
18	France	71.2	+0.6 pts
19	Cyprus	70.8	+2.1 pts
20	Bulgaria	70.6	+3.6 pts
21	Poland	70	+1.8 pts
22	Belgium Series break	68.5	+0.8 pts
23	Spain	65.5	+1.6 pts
24	Croatia	63.2	+1.9 pts
25	Romania	62.7	+2.4 pts
26	Italy	62.3	+0.9 pts
27	Greece	57.4	+1.5 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Employed people as a percentage of the population aged 16 and over (Spain, EPA) or 20 to 64 (EU headline indicator).

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. Employment and activity by sex and age, annual data, employment rate 20 to 64 (lfsi_emp_a). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/lfsi_emp_a/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-08.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank EU countries by employment rate using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"employment_rate","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=employment_rate&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which EU country has the highest employment rate?

Sweden, with 81.4% in 2017, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest employment rate?

Greece, with 57.4% in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Eurostat, European Commission, Employment and activity by sex and age, annual data, employment rate 20 to 64 (lfsi_emp_a). Retrieved 2026-10-08.