EU countries by enterprise deaths

France had the highest enterprise deaths of 26 EU countries in 2020, at 401,622. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 2,772. The median was 41,559. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest401,622France

Lowest2,772Luxembourg

Median41,55926 EU countries

Map of EU countries, 2020

Under 15K
15K to 33K
33K to 44K
44K to 130K
130K and over
No data

count, 2020. Hatched areas have no value for this period. 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, 2020

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	2020 count	Change on 2019
1	France Series break	401,622	n/a
2	Spain	308,984	n/a
3	Italy	267,568	-8.9%
4	Germany	237,042	n/a
5	Poland	219,925	n/a
6	Portugal	133,699	-11.7%
7	Netherlands	129,704	n/a
8	Czechia	82,725	+0.6%
9	Sweden	62,981	n/a
10	Romania	59,191	n/a
11	Slovakia	43,780	-14.1%
12	Hungary	43,630	-24.6%
13	Bulgaria	43,619	-4.7%
14	Lithuania	39,498	-3.1%
15	Belgium	33,835	+40.1%
16	Finland	33,121	+9.6%
17	Denmark	30,144	n/a
18	Ireland	29,700	-2.8%
19	Austria	28,471	n/a
20	Latvia	17,456	n/a
21	Croatia	14,731	n/a
22	Slovenia	14,357	n/a
23	Estonia	11,669	n/a
24	Malta Provisional	4,997	+7.1%
25	Cyprus	3,961	n/a
26	Luxembourg	2,772	n/a

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. 1 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2020 and are left out rather than filled from another source. 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, 2020) [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, 2020. 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?period=2020. 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, 2020. 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?period=2020.

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, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/bd_size/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-deaths/eu-countries?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_enterprise_2020,
  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, 2020}},
  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?period=2020. 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, 2020
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?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-deaths/eu-countries?period=2020.
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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Rank EU countries by enterprise deaths using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"enterprise_deaths","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
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Questions

Which EU country has the highest enterprise deaths?

France, with 401,622 in 2020, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest enterprise deaths?

Luxembourg, with 2,772 in 2020.

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. 1 EU countries have no value for 2020 and are not ranked.