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 2014, at 3.18 million. Cyprus had the lowest, at 9,413. The median was 143,564 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 11.81 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest3,176,395Germany
Lowest9,413Cyprus
Median143,56427 EU countries
European Union (27)11,807,590History

Map of EU countries, 2014

Austria: 219,660 personsBelgium: 367,434 personsBulgaria: 106,240 personsCyprus: 9,413 personsCzechia: 216,573 personsGermany: 3,176,395 personsDenmark: 111,155 personsEstonia: 35,062 personsSpain: 1,247,455 personsFinland: 143,564 personsFrance: 1,975,927 personsGreece: 107,863 personsCroatia: 47,163 personsHungary: 207,932 personsIreland: 112,448 personsItaly: 1,122,393 personsLithuania: 52,518 personsLuxembourg: 29,434 personsLatvia: 34,123 personsMalta: 14,075 personsNetherlands: 901,502 personsPoland: 470,399 personsPortugal: 397,549 personsRomania: 284,794 personsSweden: 294,520 personsSlovenia: 32,774 personsSlovakia: 89,279 persons
  • Under 40K
  • 40K to 110K
  • 110K to 220K
  • 220K to 460K
  • 460K and over
persons, 2014. 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, 2014

Germany: 3,176,395 personsGermany3,176,395France: 1,975,927 personsFrance1,975,927Spain: 1,247,455 personsSpain1,247,455Italy: 1,122,393 personsItaly1,122,393Netherlands: 901,502 personsNetherlands901,502Poland: 470,399 personsPoland470,399Portugal: 397,549 personsPortugal397,549Belgium: 367,434 personsBelgium367,434Sweden: 294,520 personsSweden294,520Romania: 284,794 personsRomania284,794Austria: 219,660 personsAustria219,660Czechia: 216,573 personsCzechia216,573Hungary: 207,932 personsHungary207,932Finland: 143,564 personsFinland143,564Ireland: 112,448 personsIreland112,448Denmark: 111,155 personsDenmark111,155Greece: 107,863 personsGreece107,863Bulgaria: 106,240 personsBulgaria106,240Slovakia: 89,279 personsSlovakia89,279Lithuania: 52,518 personsLithuania52,518Croatia: 47,163 personsCroatia47,163Estonia: 35,062 personsEstonia35,062Latvia: 34,123 personsLatvia34,123Slovenia: 32,774 personsSlovenia32,774Luxembourg: 29,434 personsLuxembourg29,434Malta: 14,075 personsMalta14,075Cyprus: 9,413 personsCyprus9,413Germany: 3,176,395 personsGermany3,176,395France: 1,975,927 personsFrance1,975,927Spain: 1,247,455 personsSpain1,247,455Italy: 1,122,393 personsItaly1,122,393Netherlands: 901,502 personsNetherlands901,502Poland: 470,399 personsPoland470,399Portugal: 397,549 personsPortugal397,549Belgium: 367,434 personsBelgium367,434Sweden: 294,520 personsSweden294,520Romania: 284,794 personsRomania284,794Austria: 219,660 personsAustria219,660Czechia: 216,573 personsCzechia216,573Hungary: 207,932 personsHungary207,932Finland: 143,564 personsFinland143,564Ireland: 112,448 personsIreland112,448Denmark: 111,155 personsDenmark111,155Greece: 107,863 personsGreece107,863Bulgaria: 106,240 personsBulgaria106,240Slovakia: 89,279 personsSlovakia89,279Lithuania: 52,518 personsLithuania52,518Croatia: 47,163 personsCroatia47,163Estonia: 35,062 personsEstonia35,062Latvia: 34,123 personsLatvia34,123Slovenia: 32,774 personsSlovenia32,774Luxembourg: 29,434 personsLuxembourg29,434Malta: 14,075 personsMalta14,075Cyprus: 9,413 personsCyprus9,413
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 countries2014
persons
Change on 2013
1Germany3,176,395+6.8%
2France Series break1,975,927+6.5%
3Spain1,247,455+4.9%
4Italy1,122,393+0.4%
5Netherlands901,502+3.4%
6Poland470,399+4.5%
7Portugal397,549+5.8%
8Belgium367,434+4.3%
9Sweden294,520+2.3%
10Romania284,794+3.1%
11Austria219,660+2.6%
12Czechia216,573+4.7%
13Hungary207,932+7%
14Finland143,564+2.6%
15Ireland112,448+5.4%
16Denmark111,155+5.4%
17Greece107,863-7.9%
18Bulgaria106,240+4.2%
19Slovakia89,279+19.6%
20Lithuania52,518+8.9%
21Croatia47,163+3.5%
22Estonia35,062+1.9%
23Latvia34,123+11.8%
24Slovenia32,774+18.4%
25Luxembourg29,434+5.3%
26Malta14,075+14.8%
27Cyprus9,413+8%

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, 2014) [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, 2014. 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=2014. 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, 2014. 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=2014.

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, 2014 [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=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2014,
  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, 2014}},
  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=2014. 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, 2014
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=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2014.
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 3.18 million in 2014, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Cyprus, with 9,413 in 2014.

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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