EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support services

Germany had the highest persons employed in administrative and support services of 27 EU countries in 2013, at 2.98 million. Cyprus had the lowest, at 8,715. The median was 139,881 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 11.25 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest2,975,389Germany
Lowest8,715Cyprus
Median139,88127 EU countries
European Union (27)11,248,227History

Map of EU countries, 2013

Austria: 214,163 personsBelgium: 352,212 personsBulgaria: 101,963 personsCyprus: 8,715 personsCzechia: 206,867 personsGermany: 2,975,389 personsDenmark: 105,430 personsEstonia: 34,415 personsSpain: 1,188,971 personsFinland: 139,881 personsFrance: 1,854,938 personsGreece: 117,081 personsCroatia: 45,563 personsHungary: 194,402 personsIreland: 106,682 personsItaly: 1,118,046 personsLithuania: 48,228 personsLuxembourg: 27,951 personsLatvia: 30,526 personsMalta: 12,260 personsNetherlands: 872,012 personsPoland: 450,227 personsPortugal: 375,670 personsRomania: 276,260 personsSweden: 288,032 personsSlovenia: 27,670 personsSlovakia: 74,673 persons
  • Under 40K
  • 40K to 110K
  • 110K to 210K
  • 210K to 440K
  • 440K and over
persons, 2013. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2013

Germany: 2,975,389 personsGermany2,975,389France: 1,854,938 personsFrance1,854,938Spain: 1,188,971 personsSpain1,188,971Italy: 1,118,046 personsItaly1,118,046Netherlands: 872,012 personsNetherlands872,012Poland: 450,227 personsPoland450,227Portugal: 375,670 personsPortugal375,670Belgium: 352,212 personsBelgium352,212Sweden: 288,032 personsSweden288,032Romania: 276,260 personsRomania276,260Austria: 214,163 personsAustria214,163Czechia: 206,867 personsCzechia206,867Hungary: 194,402 personsHungary194,402Finland: 139,881 personsFinland139,881Greece: 117,081 personsGreece117,081Ireland: 106,682 personsIreland106,682Denmark: 105,430 personsDenmark105,430Bulgaria: 101,963 personsBulgaria101,963Slovakia: 74,673 personsSlovakia74,673Lithuania: 48,228 personsLithuania48,228Croatia: 45,563 personsCroatia45,563Estonia: 34,415 personsEstonia34,415Latvia: 30,526 personsLatvia30,526Luxembourg: 27,951 personsLuxembourg27,951Slovenia: 27,670 personsSlovenia27,670Malta: 12,260 personsMalta12,260Cyprus: 8,715 personsCyprus8,715Germany: 2,975,389 personsGermany2,975,389France: 1,854,938 personsFrance1,854,938Spain: 1,188,971 personsSpain1,188,971Italy: 1,118,046 personsItaly1,118,046Netherlands: 872,012 personsNetherlands872,012Poland: 450,227 personsPoland450,227Portugal: 375,670 personsPortugal375,670Belgium: 352,212 personsBelgium352,212Sweden: 288,032 personsSweden288,032Romania: 276,260 personsRomania276,260Austria: 214,163 personsAustria214,163Czechia: 206,867 personsCzechia206,867Hungary: 194,402 personsHungary194,402Finland: 139,881 personsFinland139,881Greece: 117,081 personsGreece117,081Ireland: 106,682 personsIreland106,682Denmark: 105,430 personsDenmark105,430Bulgaria: 101,963 personsBulgaria101,963Slovakia: 74,673 personsSlovakia74,673Lithuania: 48,228 personsLithuania48,228Croatia: 45,563 personsCroatia45,563Estonia: 34,415 personsEstonia34,415Latvia: 30,526 personsLatvia30,526Luxembourg: 27,951 personsLuxembourg27,951Slovenia: 27,670 personsSlovenia27,670Malta: 12,260 personsMalta12,260Cyprus: 8,715 personsCyprus8,715
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2013
persons
Change on 2012
1Germany2,975,389+2.6%
2France1,854,938-4.4%
3Spain1,188,971+0.3%
4Italy1,118,0460%
5Netherlands872,012-0.1%
6Poland450,227+2%
7Portugal375,6700%
8Belgium352,212+3.6%
9Sweden288,032-0.4%
10Romania276,260+7.5%
11Austria214,163+1.5%
12Czechia206,867+5.1%
13Hungary194,402+0.4%
14Finland Series break139,881-1.2%
15Greece117,081-5.2%
16Ireland106,682+2%
17Denmark105,430+4.5%
18Bulgaria101,963+2.4%
19Slovakia74,673+4%
20Lithuania48,228+6.9%
21Croatia45,563-2.6%
22Estonia34,415+4.1%
23Latvia30,526+1%
24Luxembourg27,951+1.6%
25Slovenia27,670+1.4%
26Malta12,260+7.5%
27Cyprus8,715-4.4%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N): 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), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), 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), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support 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), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support 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-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2013. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support 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-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2013.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2024) Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support 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-administrative-support/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), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support 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-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2013. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), 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), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support 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-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2013
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2013.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), 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 administrative and support services?

Germany, with 2.98 million in 2013, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in administrative and support services?

Cyprus, with 8,715 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), Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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