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 2017, at 2.37 million. Malta had the lowest, at 19,389. The median was 176,327 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 10.19 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest2,374,448Germany
Lowest19,389Malta
Median176,32727 EU countries
European Union (27)10,185,538History

Map of EU countries, 2017

Austria: 310,828 personsBelgium: 180,806 personsBulgaria: 148,246 personsCyprus: 46,058 personsCzechia: 176,327 personsGermany: 2,374,448 personsDenmark: 131,949 personsEstonia: 26,317 personsSpain: 1,465,874 personsFinland: 74,707 personsFrance: 1,069,704 personsGreece: 531,635 personsCroatia: 105,607 personsHungary: 139,846 personsIreland: 189,186 personsItaly: 1,502,068 personsLithuania: 45,690 personsLuxembourg: 20,977 personsLatvia: 37,057 personsMalta: 19,389 personsNetherlands: 467,378 personsPoland: 275,490 personsPortugal: 346,486 personsRomania: 182,355 personsSweden: 212,751 personsSlovenia: 38,421 personsSlovakia: 66,301 persons
  • Under 50K
  • 50K to 140K
  • 140K to 190K
  • 190K to 440K
  • 440K and over
persons, 2017. 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, 2017

Germany: 2,374,448 personsGermany2,374,448Italy: 1,502,068 personsItaly1,502,068Spain: 1,465,874 personsSpain1,465,874France: 1,069,704 personsFrance1,069,704Greece: 531,635 personsGreece531,635Netherlands: 467,378 personsNetherlands467,378Portugal: 346,486 personsPortugal346,486Austria: 310,828 personsAustria310,828Poland: 275,490 personsPoland275,490Sweden: 212,751 personsSweden212,751Ireland: 189,186 personsIreland189,186Romania: 182,355 personsRomania182,355Belgium: 180,806 personsBelgium180,806Czechia: 176,327 personsCzechia176,327Bulgaria: 148,246 personsBulgaria148,246Hungary: 139,846 personsHungary139,846Denmark: 131,949 personsDenmark131,949Croatia: 105,607 personsCroatia105,607Finland: 74,707 personsFinland74,707Slovakia: 66,301 personsSlovakia66,301Cyprus: 46,058 personsCyprus46,058Lithuania: 45,690 personsLithuania45,690Slovenia: 38,421 personsSlovenia38,421Latvia: 37,057 personsLatvia37,057Estonia: 26,317 personsEstonia26,317Luxembourg: 20,977 personsLuxembourg20,977Malta: 19,389 personsMalta19,389Germany: 2,374,448 personsGermany2,374,448Italy: 1,502,068 personsItaly1,502,068Spain: 1,465,874 personsSpain1,465,874France: 1,069,704 personsFrance1,069,704Greece: 531,635 personsGreece531,635Netherlands: 467,378 personsNetherlands467,378Portugal: 346,486 personsPortugal346,486Austria: 310,828 personsAustria310,828Poland: 275,490 personsPoland275,490Sweden: 212,751 personsSweden212,751Ireland: 189,186 personsIreland189,186Romania: 182,355 personsRomania182,355Belgium: 180,806 personsBelgium180,806Czechia: 176,327 personsCzechia176,327Bulgaria: 148,246 personsBulgaria148,246Hungary: 139,846 personsHungary139,846Denmark: 131,949 personsDenmark131,949Croatia: 105,607 personsCroatia105,607Finland: 74,707 personsFinland74,707Slovakia: 66,301 personsSlovakia66,301Cyprus: 46,058 personsCyprus46,058Lithuania: 45,690 personsLithuania45,690Slovenia: 38,421 personsSlovenia38,421Latvia: 37,057 personsLatvia37,057Estonia: 26,317 personsEstonia26,317Luxembourg: 20,977 personsLuxembourg20,977Malta: 19,389 personsMalta19,389
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 countries2017
persons		Change on 2016
1Germany2,374,448+3.2%
2Italy Series break1,502,068+8.9%
3Spain1,465,874+4.6%
4France Series break1,069,704+1.1%
5Greece531,635+8.8%
6Netherlands467,378+4.4%
7Portugal346,486+9%
8Austria310,828+2.6%
9Poland275,490+6.1%
10Sweden212,751+2.5%
11Ireland189,186+5.2%
12Romania182,355+3.5%
13Belgium180,806+3.1%
14Czechia176,327+3.4%
15Bulgaria148,246+3.8%
16Hungary139,846+1.1%
17Denmark131,949+3.3%
18Croatia105,607+5.3%
19Finland Series break74,707+2.6%
20Slovakia66,301+9.4%
21Cyprus46,058+7.2%
22Lithuania45,690+2.2%
23Slovenia38,421+4.4%
24Latvia37,057+4%
25Estonia26,317+6.1%
26Luxembourg20,977+3.5%
27Malta19,389n/a

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, 2017) [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, 2017. 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=2017. 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, 2017. 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=2017.

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, 2017 [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=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2017,
  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, 2017}},
  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=2017. 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, 2017
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=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-accommodation-food/eu-countries?period=2017.
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  -
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.

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 persons employed in accommodation and food services using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"sbs_persons_employed_accommodation_food","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=sbs_persons_employed_accommodation_food&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 persons employed in accommodation and food services?

Germany, with 2.37 million in 2017, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Malta, with 19,389 in 2017.

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.

EU countries: more rankings