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

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

Germany had the highest persons employed in industry, construction and market services of 27 EU countries in 2022, at 38.72 million. Malta had the lowest, at 235,896. The median was 3.36 million and the figure for the European Union (27) was 160.6 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest38,715,794Germany
Lowest235,896Malta
Median3,364,25127 EU countries
European Union (27)160,603,286History

Map of EU countries, 2022

Austria: 3,751,038 personsBelgium: 3,877,850 personsBulgaria: 2,165,657 personsCyprus: 378,199 personsCzechia: 4,230,462 personsGermany: 38,715,794 personsDenmark: 2,217,600 personsEstonia: 543,373 personsSpain: 15,559,404 personsFinland: 1,765,262 personsFrance: 20,478,850 personsGreece: 3,408,054 personsCroatia: 1,256,179 personsHungary: 3,364,251 personsIreland: 2,292,598 personsItaly: 18,202,887 personsLithuania: 1,247,450 personsLuxembourg: 393,755 personsLatvia: 684,484 personsMalta: 235,896 personsNetherlands: 8,562,407 personsPoland: 11,511,312 personsPortugal: 4,362,436 personsRomania: 4,698,672 personsSweden: 4,101,419 personsSlovenia: 780,599 personsSlovakia: 1,817,398 persons
  • Under 900K
  • 900K to 2.2M
  • 2.2M to 3.8M
  • 3.8M to 7.8M
  • 7.8M and over
persons, 2022. 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, 2022

Germany: 38,715,794 personsGermany38,715,794France: 20,478,850 personsFrance20,478,850Italy: 18,202,887 personsItaly18,202,887Spain: 15,559,404 personsSpain15,559,404Poland: 11,511,312 personsPoland11,511,312Netherlands: 8,562,407 personsNetherlands8,562,407Romania: 4,698,672 personsRomania4,698,672Portugal: 4,362,436 personsPortugal4,362,436Czechia: 4,230,462 personsCzechia4,230,462Sweden: 4,101,419 personsSweden4,101,419Belgium: 3,877,850 personsBelgium3,877,850Austria: 3,751,038 personsAustria3,751,038Greece: 3,408,054 personsGreece3,408,054Hungary: 3,364,251 personsHungary3,364,251Ireland: 2,292,598 personsIreland2,292,598Denmark: 2,217,600 personsDenmark2,217,600Bulgaria: 2,165,657 personsBulgaria2,165,657Slovakia: 1,817,398 personsSlovakia1,817,398Finland: 1,765,262 personsFinland1,765,262Croatia: 1,256,179 personsCroatia1,256,179Lithuania: 1,247,450 personsLithuania1,247,450Slovenia: 780,599 personsSlovenia780,599Latvia: 684,484 personsLatvia684,484Estonia: 543,373 personsEstonia543,373Luxembourg: 393,755 personsLuxembourg393,755Cyprus: 378,199 personsCyprus378,199Malta: 235,896 personsMalta235,896Germany: 38,715,794 personsGermany38,715,794France: 20,478,850 personsFrance20,478,850Italy: 18,202,887 personsItaly18,202,887Spain: 15,559,404 personsSpain15,559,404Poland: 11,511,312 personsPoland11,511,312Netherlands: 8,562,407 personsNetherlands8,562,407Romania: 4,698,672 personsRomania4,698,672Portugal: 4,362,436 personsPortugal4,362,436Czechia: 4,230,462 personsCzechia4,230,462Sweden: 4,101,419 personsSweden4,101,419Belgium: 3,877,850 personsBelgium3,877,850Austria: 3,751,038 personsAustria3,751,038Greece: 3,408,054 personsGreece3,408,054Hungary: 3,364,251 personsHungary3,364,251Ireland: 2,292,598 personsIreland2,292,598Denmark: 2,217,600 personsDenmark2,217,600Bulgaria: 2,165,657 personsBulgaria2,165,657Slovakia: 1,817,398 personsSlovakia1,817,398Finland: 1,765,262 personsFinland1,765,262Croatia: 1,256,179 personsCroatia1,256,179Lithuania: 1,247,450 personsLithuania1,247,450Slovenia: 780,599 personsSlovenia780,599Latvia: 684,484 personsLatvia684,484Estonia: 543,373 personsEstonia543,373Luxembourg: 393,755 personsLuxembourg393,755Cyprus: 378,199 personsCyprus378,199Malta: 235,896 personsMalta235,896
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 countries2022
persons		Change on 2021
1Germany38,715,794+0.9%
2France20,478,850+4.3%
3Italy18,202,887+3.4%
4Spain15,559,404+3.7%
5Poland11,511,312+1.1%
6Netherlands8,562,407+3.3%
7Romania4,698,672+0.5%
8Portugal4,362,436+6%
9Czechia4,230,462+1.7%
10Sweden4,101,419+2.4%
11Belgium3,877,850+2.9%
12Austria3,751,038+4.5%
13Greece3,408,054+5.4%
14Hungary3,364,251+3.2%
15Ireland2,292,598+13%
16Denmark2,217,600+5.3%
17Bulgaria2,165,657+1.8%
18Slovakia1,817,398+2.6%
19Finland1,765,262+5.9%
20Croatia1,256,179+3.4%
21Lithuania1,247,450+5.5%
22Slovenia780,599+3.7%
23Latvia684,484-0.9%
24Estonia543,373+5.6%
25Luxembourg393,755+3.5%
26Cyprus378,199+7.4%
27Malta235,896+6.4%

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, 2022) [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, 2022. 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?period=2022. 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, 2022. 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?period=2022.

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, 2022 [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?period=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2022,
  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, 2022}},
  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?period=2022. 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, 2022
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?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-business-economy/eu-countries?period=2022.
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 38.72 million in 2022, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Malta, with 235,896 in 2022.

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.

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