EU countries by enterprise deaths, 2024

France had the highest enterprise deaths of 27 EU countries in 2024, at 615,080. Malta had the lowest, at 2,624. The median was 62,241 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 3.14 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest615,080France

Lowest2,624Malta

Median62,24127 EU countries

European Union (27)3,143,782History

Map of EU countries, 2024

Under 21K
21K to 51K
51K to 76K
76K to 170K
170K and over

count, 2024. Source: Eurostat, Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprise deaths, number (bd_size). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2024

count. Source: Eurostat, Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprise deaths, number (bd_size). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2024 count	Change on 2023
1	France Provisional	615,080	+10.1%
2	Poland Estimated	343,959	+22.3%
3	Germany Series break	331,590	+31.5%
4	Italy Estimated	297,820	-0.3%
5	Spain Estimated	269,592	-1.3%
6	Portugal Estimated	173,993	-1.5%
7	Netherlands Provisional	158,036	+42%
8	Hungary Provisional	116,227	+39.3%
9	Slovakia Estimated	98,762	+53.6%
10	Czechia Estimated	90,323	-12.4%
11	Romania Provisional	80,639	+23.7%
12	Ireland Provisional	69,154	+59%
13	Sweden Provisional	67,289	+31.7%
14	Bulgaria Provisional	62,241	+93.7%
15	Lithuania Estimated	57,797	+28.3%
16	Belgium Provisional	52,848	+26.5%
17	Estonia Provisional	49,260	+165.9%
18	Finland Provisional	44,228	+41.4%
19	Denmark Provisional	38,198	+19.1%
20	Greece Provisional	37,391	+23.8%
21	Austria Provisional	33,330	-4.3%
22	Croatia Provisional	17,772	+8.7%
23	Slovenia Provisional	14,952	-2.6%
24	Latvia Estimated	10,958	-20.5%
25	Cyprus Provisional	5,566	+7.7%
26	Luxembourg Estimated	4,153	+9.4%
27	Malta Provisional	2,624	-58.6%

Other periods

2024
2023
2022
2021
2020

About this ranking

Enterprises that stopped trading during the year and were not reactivated within two years. Enterprises absorbed by a merger or a takeover are not deaths.

Counts enterprises, which can run several local units, under the harmonised Eurostat and OECD business demography rules. Not the same as active_companies (the INE business register count for Spain) or employer_firms (US firms with employees). A death is not an insolvency: most enterprises that close do so without a formal insolvency procedure. The latest years are estimated from expected reactivations and are provisional.

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, enterprise deaths, number (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, enterprise deaths, number (bd_size) (EU countries by enterprise deaths, 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, enterprise deaths, number (bd_size), EU countries by enterprise deaths, 2024. Eurostat, European Commission, 2 Oct. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-deaths/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, enterprise deaths, number (bd_size). EU countries by enterprise deaths, 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-deaths/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, enterprise deaths, number (bd_size), EU countries by enterprise deaths, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-deaths/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, enterprise deaths, number (bd\_size): EU countries by enterprise deaths, 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-deaths/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprise deaths, number (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, enterprise deaths, number (bd_size): EU countries by enterprise deaths, 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-deaths/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-deaths/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Business demography by size class and NACE Rev. 2 activity, industry, construction and market services, all size classes, enterprise deaths, number (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 deaths?

France, with 615,080 in 2024, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest enterprise deaths?

Malta, with 2,624 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, enterprise deaths, number (bd_size). Retrieved 2026-10-12.