EU countries by enterprise death rate

Poland had the highest enterprise death rate of 27 EU countries in 2021, at 12.65%. Greece had the lowest, at 2.12%. The median was 7.16% and the figure for the European Union (27) was 7.73%. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest12.65Poland

Lowest2.12Greece

Median7.1627 EU countries

European Union (27)7.73History

Map of EU countries, 2021

Under 5.9
5.9 to 6.8
6.8 to 7.3
7.3 to 10
10 and over

%, 2021. Source: Eurostat, Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, death 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, death rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2021 (%)	Change on 2020
1	Poland	12.65	n/a
2	Lithuania	12.51	n/a
3	Latvia	11.87	n/a
4	France Series break	10.82	n/a
5	Denmark	10.66	n/a
6	Portugal Series break	10.43	n/a
7	Malta Series break	9.84	n/a
8	Estonia Series break	8.88	n/a
9	Bulgaria	8.3	n/a
10	Ireland	7.79	n/a
11	Spain Series break	7.32	n/a
12	Hungary	7.27	n/a
13	Slovakia	7.24	n/a
14	Romania	7.16	n/a
15	Germany	6.98	n/a
16	Luxembourg	6.84	n/a
17	Finland Series break	6.74	-1.1 pts
18	Sweden Series break	6.65	n/a
19	Slovenia	6.63	n/a
20	Croatia	6.62	n/a
21	Italy Series break	5.97	n/a
22	Austria	5.92	n/a
23	Czechia	5.65	n/a
24	Cyprus	4.98	n/a
25	Netherlands	4.05	n/a
26	Belgium	3.79	n/a
27	Greece Series break	2.12	n/a

Other periods

2024
2023
2022
2021

About this ranking

Enterprise deaths in the year as a percentage of the enterprises active in the same year. A death is an enterprise that stopped trading and was not reactivated within two years.

Eurostat and OECD harmonised business demography. The latest year is provisional until the two-year reactivation window has passed. Not an insolvency rate, and not comparable with establishment_exit_rate, which counts closed US business locations.

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, death 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, death rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size) (EU countries by enterprise death 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, death rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size), EU countries by enterprise death 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-death-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, death rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size). EU countries by enterprise death 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-death-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, death rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size), EU countries by enterprise death rate, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-death-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, death rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd\_size): EU countries by enterprise death 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-death-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, death 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, death rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size): EU countries by enterprise death 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-death-rate/eu-countries?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-death-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, death 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 death rate using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest enterprise death rate?

Poland, with 12.65% in 2021, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest enterprise death rate?

Greece, with 2.12% 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, death rate, percentage of active enterprises (bd_size). Retrieved 2026-10-12.