Data / Rankings / Persons employed in industry, construction and market services / EU countries

EU countries by persons employed in industry, construction and market services, 2024

Germany had the highest persons employed in industry, construction and market services of 27 EU countries in 2024, at 39.31 million. Malta had the lowest, at 273,922. The median was 3.35 million and the figure for the European Union (27) was 164.52 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest39,312,214Germany
Lowest273,922Malta
Median3,345,69727 EU countries
European Union (27)164,521,796History

Map of EU countries, 2024

Austria: 3,800,813 personsBelgium: 3,965,283 personsBulgaria: 2,228,125 personsCyprus: 412,687 personsCzechia: 4,230,633 personsGermany: 39,312,214 personsDenmark: 2,265,056 personsEstonia: 544,570 personsSpain: 16,246,767 personsFinland: 1,744,334 personsFrance: 20,963,399 personsGreece: 3,632,302 personsCroatia: 1,352,144 personsHungary: 3,345,697 personsIreland: 2,428,464 personsItaly: 18,833,334 personsLithuania: 1,304,173 personsLuxembourg: 399,781 personsLatvia: 702,197 personsMalta: 273,922 personsNetherlands: 8,738,572 personsPoland: 11,524,735 personsPortugal: 4,802,474 personsRomania: 4,768,128 personsSweden: 4,068,276 personsSlovenia: 792,746 personsSlovakia: 1,840,970 persons
  • Under 900K
  • 900K to 2.2M
  • 2.2M to 3.9M
  • 3.9M to 8M
  • 8M and over
persons, 2024. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2024

Germany: 39,312,214 personsGermany39,312,214France: 20,963,399 personsFrance20,963,399Italy: 18,833,334 personsItaly18,833,334Spain: 16,246,767 personsSpain16,246,767Poland: 11,524,735 personsPoland11,524,735Netherlands: 8,738,572 personsNetherlands8,738,572Portugal: 4,802,474 personsPortugal4,802,474Romania: 4,768,128 personsRomania4,768,128Czechia: 4,230,633 personsCzechia4,230,633Sweden: 4,068,276 personsSweden4,068,276Belgium: 3,965,283 personsBelgium3,965,283Austria: 3,800,813 personsAustria3,800,813Greece: 3,632,302 personsGreece3,632,302Hungary: 3,345,697 personsHungary3,345,697Ireland: 2,428,464 personsIreland2,428,464Denmark: 2,265,056 personsDenmark2,265,056Bulgaria: 2,228,125 personsBulgaria2,228,125Slovakia: 1,840,970 personsSlovakia1,840,970Finland: 1,744,334 personsFinland1,744,334Croatia: 1,352,144 personsCroatia1,352,144Lithuania: 1,304,173 personsLithuania1,304,173Slovenia: 792,746 personsSlovenia792,746Latvia: 702,197 personsLatvia702,197Estonia: 544,570 personsEstonia544,570Cyprus: 412,687 personsCyprus412,687Luxembourg: 399,781 personsLuxembourg399,781Malta: 273,922 personsMalta273,922Germany: 39,312,214 personsGermany39,312,214France: 20,963,399 personsFrance20,963,399Italy: 18,833,334 personsItaly18,833,334Spain: 16,246,767 personsSpain16,246,767Poland: 11,524,735 personsPoland11,524,735Netherlands: 8,738,572 personsNetherlands8,738,572Portugal: 4,802,474 personsPortugal4,802,474Romania: 4,768,128 personsRomania4,768,128Czechia: 4,230,633 personsCzechia4,230,633Sweden: 4,068,276 personsSweden4,068,276Belgium: 3,965,283 personsBelgium3,965,283Austria: 3,800,813 personsAustria3,800,813Greece: 3,632,302 personsGreece3,632,302Hungary: 3,345,697 personsHungary3,345,697Ireland: 2,428,464 personsIreland2,428,464Denmark: 2,265,056 personsDenmark2,265,056Bulgaria: 2,228,125 personsBulgaria2,228,125Slovakia: 1,840,970 personsSlovakia1,840,970Finland: 1,744,334 personsFinland1,744,334Croatia: 1,352,144 personsCroatia1,352,144Lithuania: 1,304,173 personsLithuania1,304,173Slovenia: 792,746 personsSlovenia792,746Latvia: 702,197 personsLatvia702,197Estonia: 544,570 personsEstonia544,570Cyprus: 412,687 personsCyprus412,687Luxembourg: 399,781 personsLuxembourg399,781Malta: 273,922 personsMalta273,922
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2024
persons		Change on 2023
1Germany39,312,214+2.6%
2France20,963,399+0.8%
3Italy18,833,334+1%
4Spain16,246,767+3%
5Poland11,524,7350%
6Netherlands8,738,572+0.8%
7Portugal4,802,474+4.1%
8Romania4,768,128-1.3%
9Czechia4,230,633-0.8%
10Sweden4,068,276-1.5%
11Belgium3,965,283+0.6%
12Austria3,800,813-0.1%
13Greece3,632,302+4.1%
14Hungary3,345,697+0.5%
15Ireland2,428,464+3.5%
16Denmark2,265,056+0.9%
17Bulgaria2,228,125+1.3%
18Slovakia1,840,970-0.1%
19Finland1,744,334-1.6%
20Croatia1,352,144+3.2%
21Lithuania1,304,173+1.3%
22Slovenia792,746-0%
23Latvia702,197+4%
24Estonia544,570-1%
25Cyprus412,687+2.9%
26Luxembourg399,781+0.1%
27Malta273,922+5.8%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev.

More on how it is measured
  • 2 sections B to S except O and S94): 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 (sbs_ovw_act), from 2021. Covers NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except public administration (O) and membership organisations (S94), so it includes financial and insurance activities, education, health and arts as well as the 12 sections with their own series; it is not their sum. There is no earlier comparable total: the 2005 to 2020 table excluded financial and insurance activities, education, health, arts and most other services in section S. Amounts are published in euros for every country. 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, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), 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, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act) (EU countries by persons employed in industry, construction and market services, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table

MLA 9

Structural business statistics, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in industry, construction and market services, 2024. 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-business-economy/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Structural business statistics, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). EU countries by persons employed in industry, construction and market services, 2024. 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-business-economy/eu-countries.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Structural business statistics, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in industry, construction and market services, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-business-economy/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2024,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs\_ovw\_act): EU countries by persons employed in industry, construction and market services, 2024}},
  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-business-economy/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), 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, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act): EU countries by persons employed in industry, construction and market services, 2024
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-business-economy/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-business-economy/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), 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 industry, construction and market services?

Germany, with 39.31 million in 2024, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in industry, construction and market services?

Malta, with 273,922 in 2024.

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, Industry, construction and market services (NACE Rev. 2 sections B to S except O and S94), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

EU countries: more rankings