Data / Rankings / Persons employed in accommodation and food services / EU countries

EU countries by persons employed in accommodation and food services

Germany had the highest persons employed in accommodation and food services of 27 EU countries in 2013, at 1.9 million. Malta had the lowest, at 17,152. The median was 155,105 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 8.43 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest1,898,353Germany
Lowest17,152Malta
Median155,10527 EU countries
European Union (27)8,427,460History

Map of EU countries, 2013

Austria: 284,340 personsBelgium: 173,885 personsBulgaria: 137,586 personsCyprus: 35,185 personsCzechia: 161,349 personsGermany: 1,898,353 personsDenmark: 70,460 personsEstonia: 20,806 personsSpain: 1,200,234 personsFinland: 68,911 personsFrance: 979,837 personsGreece: 277,438 personsCroatia: 92,105 personsHungary: 125,081 personsIreland: 155,105 personsItaly: 1,308,564 personsLithuania: 39,353 personsLuxembourg: 18,587 personsLatvia: 29,754 personsMalta: 17,152 personsNetherlands: 403,122 personsPoland: 233,843 personsPortugal: 265,694 personsRomania: 157,697 personsSweden: 181,608 personsSlovenia: 33,726 personsSlovakia: 57,685 persons
  • Under 40K
  • 40K to 110K
  • 110K to 170K
  • 170K to 280K
  • 280K and over
persons, 2013. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2013

Germany: 1,898,353 personsGermany1,898,353Italy: 1,308,564 personsItaly1,308,564Spain: 1,200,234 personsSpain1,200,234France: 979,837 personsFrance979,837Netherlands: 403,122 personsNetherlands403,122Austria: 284,340 personsAustria284,340Greece: 277,438 personsGreece277,438Portugal: 265,694 personsPortugal265,694Poland: 233,843 personsPoland233,843Sweden: 181,608 personsSweden181,608Belgium: 173,885 personsBelgium173,885Czechia: 161,349 personsCzechia161,349Romania: 157,697 personsRomania157,697Ireland: 155,105 personsIreland155,105Bulgaria: 137,586 personsBulgaria137,586Hungary: 125,081 personsHungary125,081Croatia: 92,105 personsCroatia92,105Denmark: 70,460 personsDenmark70,460Finland: 68,911 personsFinland68,911Slovakia: 57,685 personsSlovakia57,685Lithuania: 39,353 personsLithuania39,353Cyprus: 35,185 personsCyprus35,185Slovenia: 33,726 personsSlovenia33,726Latvia: 29,754 personsLatvia29,754Estonia: 20,806 personsEstonia20,806Luxembourg: 18,587 personsLuxembourg18,587Malta: 17,152 personsMalta17,152Germany: 1,898,353 personsGermany1,898,353Italy: 1,308,564 personsItaly1,308,564Spain: 1,200,234 personsSpain1,200,234France: 979,837 personsFrance979,837Netherlands: 403,122 personsNetherlands403,122Austria: 284,340 personsAustria284,340Greece: 277,438 personsGreece277,438Portugal: 265,694 personsPortugal265,694Poland: 233,843 personsPoland233,843Sweden: 181,608 personsSweden181,608Belgium: 173,885 personsBelgium173,885Czechia: 161,349 personsCzechia161,349Romania: 157,697 personsRomania157,697Ireland: 155,105 personsIreland155,105Bulgaria: 137,586 personsBulgaria137,586Hungary: 125,081 personsHungary125,081Croatia: 92,105 personsCroatia92,105Denmark: 70,460 personsDenmark70,460Finland: 68,911 personsFinland68,911Slovakia: 57,685 personsSlovakia57,685Lithuania: 39,353 personsLithuania39,353Cyprus: 35,185 personsCyprus35,185Slovenia: 33,726 personsSlovenia33,726Latvia: 29,754 personsLatvia29,754Estonia: 20,806 personsEstonia20,806Luxembourg: 18,587 personsLuxembourg18,587Malta: 17,152 personsMalta17,152
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2013
persons		Change on 2012
1Germany1,898,353-4.6%
2Italy1,308,564-1%
3Spain1,200,234-1.5%
4France979,837-1.2%
5Netherlands403,122+1.6%
6Austria284,340+3%
7Greece277,438+5.8%
8Portugal265,694-2.7%
9Poland233,843-2.5%
10Sweden181,608+5.9%
11Belgium173,885+1.3%
12Czechia161,349-4.4%
13Romania157,697+2.3%
14Ireland155,105+2.9%
15Bulgaria137,586-1.7%
16Hungary125,081-2.6%
17Croatia92,105+3.5%
18Denmark70,460+5%
19Finland Series break68,911+4.3%
20Slovakia57,685+15.4%
21Lithuania39,353+6.2%
22Cyprus35,185-6.9%
23Slovenia33,726+2.7%
24Latvia29,754+4.6%
25Estonia20,806+3.9%
26Luxembourg18,587+3.6%
27Malta17,152+6.3%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I): employees plus working proprietors, partners working regularly in the enterprise and unpaid family workers. A head count, not full-time equivalents. Eurostat structural business statistics.

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 (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/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. (2024). Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in accommodation and food services, 2013) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table

MLA 9

Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in accommodation and food services, 2013. Eurostat, European Commission, 1 Mar. 2024, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-accommodation-food/eu-countries?period=2013. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in accommodation and food services, 2013. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-accommodation-food/eu-countries?period=2013.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2024) Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in accommodation and food services, 2013 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-accommodation-food/eu-countries?period=2013 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2013,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in accommodation and food services, 2013}},
  year = {2024},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-accommodation-food/eu-countries?period=2013. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs\_na\_sca\_r2/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in accommodation and food services, 2013
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/03/01
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-accommodation-food/eu-countries?period=2013
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-accommodation-food/eu-countries?period=2013.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which EU country has the highest persons employed in accommodation and food services?

Germany, with 1.9 million in 2013, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in accommodation and food services?

Malta, with 17,152 in 2013.

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 (2005 to 2020), Accommodation and food services (NACE Rev. 2 section I), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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