Data / Rankings / Enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities / EU countries

EU countries by enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024

Italy had the highest enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities of 27 EU countries in 2024, at 923,356. Malta had the lowest, at 9,637. The median was 105,802 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 5.39 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest923,356Italy
Lowest9,637Malta
Median105,80227 EU countries
European Union (27)5,385,126History

Map of EU countries, 2024

Austria: 99,066 countBelgium: 206,796 countBulgaria: 49,961 countCyprus: 13,789 countCzechia: 220,439 countGermany: 482,544 countDenmark: 43,023 countEstonia: 28,453 countSpain: 449,295 countFinland: 73,174 countFrance: 763,213 countGreece: 167,255 countCroatia: 41,615 countHungary: 152,349 countIreland: 54,634 countItaly: 923,356 countLithuania: 49,191 countLuxembourg: 11,248 countLatvia: 20,526 countMalta: 9,637 countNetherlands: 516,471 countPoland: 391,054 countPortugal: 162,717 countRomania: 120,118 countSweden: 187,608 countSlovenia: 41,792 countSlovakia: 105,802 count
  • Under 42K
  • 42K to 62K
  • 62K to 160K
  • 160K to 360K
  • 360K and over
count, 2024. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2024

Italy: 923,356 countItaly923,356France: 763,213 countFrance763,213Netherlands: 516,471 countNetherlands516,471Germany: 482,544 countGermany482,544Spain: 449,295 countSpain449,295Poland: 391,054 countPoland391,054Czechia: 220,439 countCzechia220,439Belgium: 206,796 countBelgium206,796Sweden: 187,608 countSweden187,608Greece: 167,255 countGreece167,255Portugal: 162,717 countPortugal162,717Hungary: 152,349 countHungary152,349Romania: 120,118 countRomania120,118Slovakia: 105,802 countSlovakia105,802Austria: 99,066 countAustria99,066Finland: 73,174 countFinland73,174Ireland: 54,634 countIreland54,634Bulgaria: 49,961 countBulgaria49,961Lithuania: 49,191 countLithuania49,191Denmark: 43,023 countDenmark43,023Slovenia: 41,792 countSlovenia41,792Croatia: 41,615 countCroatia41,615Estonia: 28,453 countEstonia28,453Latvia: 20,526 countLatvia20,526Cyprus: 13,789 countCyprus13,789Luxembourg: 11,248 countLuxembourg11,248Malta: 9,637 countMalta9,637Italy: 923,356 countItaly923,356France: 763,213 countFrance763,213Netherlands: 516,471 countNetherlands516,471Germany: 482,544 countGermany482,544Spain: 449,295 countSpain449,295Poland: 391,054 countPoland391,054Czechia: 220,439 countCzechia220,439Belgium: 206,796 countBelgium206,796Sweden: 187,608 countSweden187,608Greece: 167,255 countGreece167,255Portugal: 162,717 countPortugal162,717Hungary: 152,349 countHungary152,349Romania: 120,118 countRomania120,118Slovakia: 105,802 countSlovakia105,802Austria: 99,066 countAustria99,066Finland: 73,174 countFinland73,174Ireland: 54,634 countIreland54,634Bulgaria: 49,961 countBulgaria49,961Lithuania: 49,191 countLithuania49,191Denmark: 43,023 countDenmark43,023Slovenia: 41,792 countSlovenia41,792Croatia: 41,615 countCroatia41,615Estonia: 28,453 countEstonia28,453Latvia: 20,526 countLatvia20,526Cyprus: 13,789 countCyprus13,789Luxembourg: 11,248 countLuxembourg11,248Malta: 9,637 countMalta9,637
count. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2024
count		Change on 2023
1Italy923,356+2.1%
2France763,213+6.8%
3Netherlands516,471+12.1%
4Germany482,544+0.9%
5Spain449,295+1.1%
6Poland391,054+4.1%
7Czechia220,439+3.1%
8Belgium206,796+9.5%
9Sweden187,608+2.2%
10Greece167,255+3.7%
11Portugal162,717+4.2%
12Hungary152,349-1.4%
13Romania120,118+2.6%
14Slovakia105,802+4.8%
15Austria99,066+4.1%
16Finland73,174+4.4%
17Ireland54,634+3.1%
18Bulgaria49,961+2.1%
19Lithuania49,191+4.5%
20Denmark43,023+1.7%
21Slovenia41,792+2.4%
22Croatia41,615+3.3%
23Estonia28,453+3.5%
24Latvia20,526+4%
25Cyprus13,789+5%
26Luxembourg11,248+2.6%
27Malta9,637+8.5%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of enterprises active at any time during the year in professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev.

More on how it is measured
  • 2 section M), from Eurostat structural business statistics.
  • An enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that produces goods or services with some autonomy in its decisions; one enterprise can have several local units.

Eurostat structural business statistics. From 2021 the series come from sbs_ovw_act under Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 on European business statistics; 2005 to 2020 come from the earlier table sbs_na_sca_r2. Values for 2021 are flagged as a break: value added moved from factor cost to basic prices and some activities changed coverage, so the change from 2020 to 2021 is not all real. Amounts are published in euros for every country, including those outside the euro area. Not the same as active_companies (INE business register, Spain) or employer_firms (US Census Bureau).

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. Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/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). Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act) (EU countries by enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table

MLA 9

Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024. Eurostat, European Commission, 30 Sept. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprises-professional-scientific/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act). EU countries by enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprises-professional-scientific/eu-countries.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprises-professional-scientific/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_enterprises_2024,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs\_ovw\_act): EU countries by enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprises-professional-scientific/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs\_ovw\_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs\_ovw\_act/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act): EU countries by enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprises-professional-scientific/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/enterprises-professional-scientific/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which EU country has the highest enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities?

Italy, with 923,356 in 2024, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities?

Malta, with 9,637 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, Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), enterprises, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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