EU countries by enterprise birth rate, 2024

Lithuania had the highest enterprise birth rate of 27 EU countries in 2024, at 17.47%. Austria had the lowest, at 6.3%. The median was 9.97% and the figure for the European Union (27) was 10.36%. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest17.47Lithuania

Lowest6.3Austria

Median9.9727 EU countries

European Union (27)10.36History

All EU countries, 2024

%. Source: Eurostat, Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2024 (%)	Change on 2023
1	Lithuania	17.47	-2.16 pts
2	Portugal	16.08	-0.74 pts
3	Malta	14.39	-2.74 pts
4	France	14.23	+0.1 pts
5	Latvia	13.92	+1.03 pts
6	Finland	12.25	+3.25 pts
7	Estonia	12.05	-2.21 pts
8	Croatia	11.86	-0.65 pts
9	Romania	11.6	-0.78 pts
10	Poland	11.24	-0.22 pts
11	Slovakia	10.91	-0.83 pts
12	Ireland	10.83	-1.02 pts
13	Bulgaria	10.44	-0.28 pts
14	Slovenia	9.97	-0.49 pts
15	Cyprus	9.7	+0.03 pts
16	Czechia	9.56	+0.48 pts
17	Spain	9.42	+0.31 pts
18	Greece	9.12	+0.67 pts
19	Sweden	9.03	+0.34 pts
20	Hungary	8.59	-0.84 pts
21	Luxembourg	8.46	-0.49 pts
22	Netherlands	8.16	-1.25 pts
23	Belgium	8	-0.23 pts
24	Italy	7.94	+0.16 pts
25	Germany Series break	7.78	-0.65 pts
26	Denmark	7.16	-0.1 pts
27	Austria	6.3	+0.07 pts

Other periods

2024
2023
2022
2021

About this ranking

Enterprise births in the year as a percentage of the enterprises active in the same year. A birth is a new enterprise created from scratch, not by a merger, break-up or reactivation.

Eurostat and OECD harmonised business demography. Not comparable with establishment_entry_rate, which counts new locations of US businesses, including branches of existing firms.

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. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/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 NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size) (EU countries by enterprise birth rate, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table

MLA 9

Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size), EU countries by enterprise birth rate, 2024. Eurostat, European Commission, 2 Oct. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-birth-rate/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size). EU countries by enterprise birth rate, 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-birth-rate/eu-countries.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size), EU countries by enterprise birth rate, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-birth-rate/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_enterprise_2024,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd\_size): EU countries by enterprise birth rate, 2024}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-birth-rate/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd\_size). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd\_size/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size): EU countries by enterprise birth rate, 2024
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/02
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-birth-rate/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-birth-rate/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest enterprise birth rate?

Lithuania, with 17.47% in 2024, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest enterprise birth rate?

Austria, with 6.3% in 2024.

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 NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, birth rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size). Retrieved 2026-10-12.