EU countries by enterprise birth rate

Estonia had the highest enterprise birth rate of 27 EU countries in 2021, at 25.43%. Austria had the lowest, at 6%. The median was 10.78% and the figure for the European Union (27) was 10.8%. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest25.43Estonia

Lowest6Austria

Median10.7827 EU countries

European Union (27)10.8History

Map of EU countries, 2021

Under 8.3
8.3 to 10
10 to 11
11 to 13
13 and over

%, 2021. 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). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2021

%. 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	2021 (%)	Change on 2020
1	Estonia Series break	25.43	n/a
2	Lithuania	19.32	n/a
3	France Series break	16.17	n/a
4	Malta Series break	14.44	n/a
5	Portugal Series break	14.38	n/a
6	Latvia	13.04	n/a
7	Poland	12.27	n/a
8	Hungary	11.96	n/a
9	Romania	11.47	n/a
10	Slovakia	11.43	n/a
11	Denmark	11.26	n/a
12	Croatia	11.01	n/a
12	Netherlands	11.01	n/a
14	Slovenia	10.78	n/a
15	Ireland	10.19	n/a
16	Cyprus	10.15	n/a
17	Bulgaria	10.03	n/a
18	Finland Series break	9.4	+0.33 pts
19	Spain Series break	9.19	n/a
20	Czechia	8.78	n/a
21	Luxembourg	8.57	n/a
22	Sweden	8.18	n/a
23	Italy Series break	8.07	n/a
24	Germany	7.81	n/a
25	Belgium	7.77	n/a
26	Greece Series break	7.22	n/a
27	Austria	6	n/a

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, 2021) [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, 2021. 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?period=2021. 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, 2021. 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?period=2021.

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, 2021 [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?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_enterprise_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  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?period=2021. 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, 2021
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?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-birth-rate/eu-countries?period=2021.
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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Rank EU countries by enterprise birth rate using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest enterprise birth rate?

Estonia, with 25.43% in 2021, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest enterprise birth rate?

Austria, with 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, 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.