Data / Rankings / Persons employed in administrative and support services / EU countries

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 2021, at 3.27 million. Cyprus had the lowest, at 16,640. The median was 175,259 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 13.61 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest3,272,739Germany
Lowest16,640Cyprus
Median175,25927 EU countries
European Union (27)13,605,982History

Map of EU countries, 2021

Austria: 255,078 personsBelgium: 481,557 personsBulgaria: 114,569 personsCyprus: 16,640 personsCzechia: 257,396 personsGermany: 3,272,739 personsDenmark: 161,442 personsEstonia: 35,358 personsSpain: 1,535,683 personsFinland: 175,259 personsFrance: 2,124,631 personsGreece: 149,079 personsCroatia: 59,507 personsHungary: 248,297 personsIreland: 154,853 personsItaly: 1,460,723 personsLithuania: 69,041 personsLuxembourg: 39,077 personsLatvia: 38,268 personsMalta: 23,609 personsNetherlands: 999,219 personsPoland: 588,856 personsPortugal: 514,904 personsRomania: 319,252 personsSweden: 352,374 personsSlovenia: 37,809 personsSlovakia: 120,762 persons
  • Under 40K
  • 40K to 150K
  • 150K to 260K
  • 260K to 570K
  • 570K and over
persons, 2021. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2021

Germany: 3,272,739 personsGermany3,272,739France: 2,124,631 personsFrance2,124,631Spain: 1,535,683 personsSpain1,535,683Italy: 1,460,723 personsItaly1,460,723Netherlands: 999,219 personsNetherlands999,219Poland: 588,856 personsPoland588,856Portugal: 514,904 personsPortugal514,904Belgium: 481,557 personsBelgium481,557Sweden: 352,374 personsSweden352,374Romania: 319,252 personsRomania319,252Czechia: 257,396 personsCzechia257,396Austria: 255,078 personsAustria255,078Hungary: 248,297 personsHungary248,297Finland: 175,259 personsFinland175,259Denmark: 161,442 personsDenmark161,442Ireland: 154,853 personsIreland154,853Greece: 149,079 personsGreece149,079Slovakia: 120,762 personsSlovakia120,762Bulgaria: 114,569 personsBulgaria114,569Lithuania: 69,041 personsLithuania69,041Croatia: 59,507 personsCroatia59,507Luxembourg: 39,077 personsLuxembourg39,077Latvia: 38,268 personsLatvia38,268Slovenia: 37,809 personsSlovenia37,809Estonia: 35,358 personsEstonia35,358Malta: 23,609 personsMalta23,609Cyprus: 16,640 personsCyprus16,640Germany: 3,272,739 personsGermany3,272,739France: 2,124,631 personsFrance2,124,631Spain: 1,535,683 personsSpain1,535,683Italy: 1,460,723 personsItaly1,460,723Netherlands: 999,219 personsNetherlands999,219Poland: 588,856 personsPoland588,856Portugal: 514,904 personsPortugal514,904Belgium: 481,557 personsBelgium481,557Sweden: 352,374 personsSweden352,374Romania: 319,252 personsRomania319,252Czechia: 257,396 personsCzechia257,396Austria: 255,078 personsAustria255,078Hungary: 248,297 personsHungary248,297Finland: 175,259 personsFinland175,259Denmark: 161,442 personsDenmark161,442Ireland: 154,853 personsIreland154,853Greece: 149,079 personsGreece149,079Slovakia: 120,762 personsSlovakia120,762Bulgaria: 114,569 personsBulgaria114,569Lithuania: 69,041 personsLithuania69,041Croatia: 59,507 personsCroatia59,507Luxembourg: 39,077 personsLuxembourg39,077Latvia: 38,268 personsLatvia38,268Slovenia: 37,809 personsSlovenia37,809Estonia: 35,358 personsEstonia35,358Malta: 23,609 personsMalta23,609Cyprus: 16,640 personsCyprus16,640
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2021
persons		Change on 2020
1Germany Series break3,272,739+7.7%
2France Series break2,124,631+9.6%
3Spain Series break1,535,683+2%
4Italy Series break1,460,723+8.3%
5Netherlands Series break999,219-2.8%
6Poland Series break588,856+3.5%
7Portugal Series break514,904+5.7%
8Belgium Series break481,557+11.7%
9Sweden Series break352,374+8%
10Romania Series break319,252+7.3%
11Czechia Series break257,396+8.9%
12Austria Series break255,078+7.3%
13Hungary Series break248,297+7.7%
14Finland Series break175,259+1.6%
15Denmark Series break161,442+7.6%
16Ireland Series break154,853+4.1%
17Greece Series break149,079+11.9%
18Slovakia Series break120,762+4.2%
19Bulgaria Series break114,569+1.6%
20Lithuania Series break69,041+8.7%
21Croatia Series break59,507+4.4%
22Luxembourg Series break39,077+6.5%
23Latvia Series break38,268-5.3%
24Slovenia Series break37,809-1%
25Estonia Series break35,358+4.8%
26Malta Series break23,609-4%
27Cyprus Series break16,640+10.7%

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, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/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). Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act) (EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support services, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table

MLA 9

Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support services, 2021. Eurostat, European Commission, 30 Sept. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support services, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2021.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support services, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2021,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs\_ovw\_act): EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support services, 2021}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2021. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs\_ovw\_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs\_ovw\_act/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act): EU countries by persons employed in administrative and support services, 2021
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-administrative-support/eu-countries?period=2021.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/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 3.27 million in 2021, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Cyprus, with 16,640 in 2021.

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, Administrative and support services (NACE Rev. 2 section N), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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