EU countries by employment rate

Name: EU countries by employment rate, 2021
Creator: Eurostat, European Commission
License: Eurostat reuse policy (commercial and non-commercial reuse, attribution required)

The Netherlands had the highest employment rate of 27 EU countries in 2021, at 81.7%. Greece had the lowest, at 62.6%. The median was 75.5% and the figure for the European Union (27) was 73%. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest81.7Netherlands

Lowest62.6Greece

Median75.527 EU countries

European Union (27)73History

All EU countries, 2021

CSV Chart (SVG)

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

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2021 (%)	Change on 2020
1	Netherlands	81.7	+0.9 pts
2	Sweden	80.4	+0.2 pts
3	Czechia	80	+0.3 pts
4	Germany	79.6	+1.3 pts
5	Estonia	79.3	+0.2 pts
6	Denmark	79	+1.2 pts
7	Hungary	78.9	+1.3 pts
8	Malta	77.8	+1.8 pts
9	Lithuania	77.4	+0.7 pts
10	Finland	76.8	+1.3 pts
11	Cyprus	76.3	+1.1 pts
12	Slovenia	76.1	+1.3 pts
13	Austria	75.6	+0.8 pts
14	Poland	75.5	+2.7 pts
14	Portugal	75.5	+1.6 pts
16	Latvia	75.3	-1.6 pts
17	Ireland Series break	74.9	+2.8 pts
18	Slovakia	74.6	0 pts
19	Luxembourg	74.1	+2 pts
20	Bulgaria	73.3	+0.6 pts
21	France	73.1	+1.1 pts
22	Belgium	70.6	+0.9 pts
23	Croatia	68.6	+1.7 pts
24	Spain	67.5	+1.8 pts
25	Romania	67.1	+1.9 pts
26	Italy	62.7	+0.8 pts
27	Greece	62.6	+4.3 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?

The Netherlands, with 81.7% in 2021, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest employment rate?

Greece, with 62.6% in 2021.

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.