EU countries by local units in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024

Italy had the highest local units in professional, scientific and technical activities of 27 EU countries in 2024, at 944,598. Malta had the lowest, at 9,637. The median was 105,864. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest944,598Italy

Lowest9,637Malta

Median105,86427 EU countries

All EU countries, 2024

count. Source: Eurostat, Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2024 count	Change on 2023
1	Italy Estimated	944,598	+2%
2	France	861,707	+5.4%
3	Netherlands	580,211	+11.2%
4	Germany	550,606	+1.7%
5	Spain	481,581	-0.3%
6	Poland	393,457	+4.1%
7	Czechia	222,437	+3.3%
8	Sweden	213,697	+2.5%
9	Belgium	206,810	+9.4%
10	Greece	171,325	+3.7%
11	Portugal	165,283	+4.2%
12	Hungary	154,122	-1.3%
13	Austria	114,561	+3.9%
14	Slovakia	105,864	+4.7%
15	Romania	86,615	+4.1%
16	Finland	69,158	-0.9%
17	Ireland	55,864	+5.6%
18	Bulgaria	50,836	-0.9%
19	Lithuania	49,951	+3.9%
20	Denmark	46,513	+1.9%
21	Croatia	44,192	+3%
22	Slovenia	42,064	+2.4%
23	Estonia	30,294	+3.2%
24	Latvia	21,088	+3.8%
25	Cyprus	13,968	+5.2%
26	Luxembourg	11,483	+2.7%
27	Malta	9,637	+8.5%

Other periods

2024
2023
2022
2021

About this ranking

Number of local units of enterprises in professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M). A local unit is an enterprise, or part of one, at a geographically identified place, such as a factory, shop, office or warehouse. Eurostat structural business statistics by region.

Eurostat structural business statistics by region (sbs_r_nuts2021), from 2021. Counted where each unit is located, so an enterprise with shops in several regions counts once in each. Countries and NUTS 2 regions. Eurostat publishes 2021 on NUTS 2021 codes and later years on NUTS 2024 codes, so regions created in 2024 (in Portugal and the Netherlands) start in 2022. Some countries publish estimates, flagged as such.

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. Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_r_nuts2021/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). Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021) (EU countries by local units in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_r_nuts2021/default/table

MLA 9

Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021), EU countries by local units in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024. Eurostat, European Commission, 30 Sept. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_r_nuts2021/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/local-units-professional-scientific/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021). EU countries by local units in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_r_nuts2021/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/local-units-professional-scientific/eu-countries.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021), EU countries by local units in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_r_nuts2021/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/local-units-professional-scientific/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_local_2024,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs\_r\_nuts2021): EU countries by local units in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_r_nuts2021/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/local-units-professional-scientific/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs\_r\_nuts2021). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs\_r\_nuts2021/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021): EU countries by local units 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_r_nuts2021/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/local-units-professional-scientific/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/local-units-professional-scientific/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_r_nuts2021/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/local-units-professional-scientific/eu-countries" width="760" height="500" title="EU countries by local units in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank EU countries by local units in professional, scientific and technical activities using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"business_local_units_professional_scientific","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=business_local_units_professional_scientific&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

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

Italy, with 944,598 in 2024, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest local units 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, Local units by NUTS 2 region, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M) (sbs_r_nuts2021). Retrieved 2026-10-12.