EU countries by enterprise deaths

France had the highest enterprise deaths of 27 EU countries in 2023, at 558,767. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 3,797. The median was 43,496 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 2.69 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest558,767France

Lowest3,797Luxembourg

Median43,49627 EU countries

European Union (27)2,689,394History

Map of EU countries, 2023

Under 17K
17K to 33K
33K to 59K
59K to 160K
160K and over

count, 2023. 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, 2023

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	2023 count	Change on 2022
1	France	558,767	+6.6%
2	Italy Provisional	298,764	+17.4%
3	Poland	281,312	-4%
4	Spain	273,103	-8.9%
5	Germany Series break	252,237	+8.7%
6	Portugal Provisional	176,685	+13.2%
7	Netherlands	111,286	-19.2%
8	Czechia Provisional	103,080	+19%
9	Hungary Provisional	83,423	-44.9%
10	Romania	65,182	+10.1%
11	Slovakia Provisional	64,295	+32.4%
12	Sweden	51,105	+0.6%
13	Lithuania Provisional	45,064	+3.5%
14	Ireland Provisional	43,496	+29%
15	Belgium	41,770	+14.5%
16	Austria	34,840	+8%
17	Bulgaria Provisional	32,125	-2.2%
18	Denmark	32,059	-7.5%
19	Finland	31,273	+11.3%
20	Greece	30,210	+12.4%
21	Estonia	18,528	+35.1%
22	Croatia	16,347	+0.2%
23	Slovenia	15,357	+3.6%
24	Latvia	13,782	-3.2%
25	Malta	6,337	+18.6%
26	Cyprus	5,170	+14%
27	Luxembourg	3,797	+34.1%

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, 2023) [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, 2023. 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=2023. 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, 2023. 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=2023.

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, 2023 [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=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_enterprise_2023,
  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, 2023}},
  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=2023. 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, 2023
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=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprise-deaths/eu-countries?period=2023.
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.

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest enterprise deaths?

France, with 558,767 in 2023, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest enterprise deaths?

Luxembourg, with 3,797 in 2023.

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.