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 2023, at 38.31 million. Malta had the lowest, at 258,824. The median was 3.33 million and the figure for the European Union (27) was 162.2 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest38,312,984Germany
Lowest258,824Malta
Median3,330,68727 EU countries
European Union (27)162,195,544History

Map of EU countries, 2023

Austria: 3,803,867 personsBelgium: 3,941,660 personsBulgaria: 2,200,045 personsCyprus: 401,185 personsCzechia: 4,262,808 personsGermany: 38,312,984 personsDenmark: 2,245,444 personsEstonia: 549,995 personsSpain: 15,778,462 personsFinland: 1,772,092 personsFrance: 20,790,797 personsGreece: 3,488,231 personsCroatia: 1,310,039 personsHungary: 3,330,687 personsIreland: 2,345,457 personsItaly: 18,638,291 personsLithuania: 1,287,465 personsLuxembourg: 399,509 personsLatvia: 675,129 personsMalta: 258,824 personsNetherlands: 8,665,531 personsPoland: 11,524,332 personsPortugal: 4,614,470 personsRomania: 4,831,918 personsSweden: 4,131,150 personsSlovenia: 792,868 personsSlovakia: 1,842,304 persons
  • Under 900K
  • 900K to 2.2M
  • 2.2M to 3.9M
  • 3.9M to 7.9M
  • 7.9M and over
persons, 2023. 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, 2023

Germany: 38,312,984 personsGermany38,312,984France: 20,790,797 personsFrance20,790,797Italy: 18,638,291 personsItaly18,638,291Spain: 15,778,462 personsSpain15,778,462Poland: 11,524,332 personsPoland11,524,332Netherlands: 8,665,531 personsNetherlands8,665,531Romania: 4,831,918 personsRomania4,831,918Portugal: 4,614,470 personsPortugal4,614,470Czechia: 4,262,808 personsCzechia4,262,808Sweden: 4,131,150 personsSweden4,131,150Belgium: 3,941,660 personsBelgium3,941,660Austria: 3,803,867 personsAustria3,803,867Greece: 3,488,231 personsGreece3,488,231Hungary: 3,330,687 personsHungary3,330,687Ireland: 2,345,457 personsIreland2,345,457Denmark: 2,245,444 personsDenmark2,245,444Bulgaria: 2,200,045 personsBulgaria2,200,045Slovakia: 1,842,304 personsSlovakia1,842,304Finland: 1,772,092 personsFinland1,772,092Croatia: 1,310,039 personsCroatia1,310,039Lithuania: 1,287,465 personsLithuania1,287,465Slovenia: 792,868 personsSlovenia792,868Latvia: 675,129 personsLatvia675,129Estonia: 549,995 personsEstonia549,995Cyprus: 401,185 personsCyprus401,185Luxembourg: 399,509 personsLuxembourg399,509Malta: 258,824 personsMalta258,824Germany: 38,312,984 personsGermany38,312,984France: 20,790,797 personsFrance20,790,797Italy: 18,638,291 personsItaly18,638,291Spain: 15,778,462 personsSpain15,778,462Poland: 11,524,332 personsPoland11,524,332Netherlands: 8,665,531 personsNetherlands8,665,531Romania: 4,831,918 personsRomania4,831,918Portugal: 4,614,470 personsPortugal4,614,470Czechia: 4,262,808 personsCzechia4,262,808Sweden: 4,131,150 personsSweden4,131,150Belgium: 3,941,660 personsBelgium3,941,660Austria: 3,803,867 personsAustria3,803,867Greece: 3,488,231 personsGreece3,488,231Hungary: 3,330,687 personsHungary3,330,687Ireland: 2,345,457 personsIreland2,345,457Denmark: 2,245,444 personsDenmark2,245,444Bulgaria: 2,200,045 personsBulgaria2,200,045Slovakia: 1,842,304 personsSlovakia1,842,304Finland: 1,772,092 personsFinland1,772,092Croatia: 1,310,039 personsCroatia1,310,039Lithuania: 1,287,465 personsLithuania1,287,465Slovenia: 792,868 personsSlovenia792,868Latvia: 675,129 personsLatvia675,129Estonia: 549,995 personsEstonia549,995Cyprus: 401,185 personsCyprus401,185Luxembourg: 399,509 personsLuxembourg399,509Malta: 258,824 personsMalta258,824
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 countries2023
persons		Change on 2022
1Germany38,312,984-1%
2France20,790,797+1.5%
3Italy18,638,291+2.4%
4Spain15,778,462+1.4%
5Poland11,524,332+0.1%
6Netherlands8,665,531+1.2%
7Romania4,831,918+2.8%
8Portugal4,614,470+5.8%
9Czechia4,262,808+0.8%
10Sweden4,131,150+0.7%
11Belgium3,941,660+1.6%
12Austria3,803,867+1.4%
13Greece3,488,231+2.4%
14Hungary3,330,687-1%
15Ireland2,345,457+2.3%
16Denmark2,245,444+1.3%
17Bulgaria2,200,045+1.6%
18Slovakia1,842,304+1.4%
19Finland1,772,092+0.4%
20Croatia1,310,039+4.3%
21Lithuania1,287,465+3.2%
22Slovenia792,868+1.6%
23Latvia675,129-1.4%
24Estonia549,995+1.2%
25Cyprus401,185+6.1%
26Luxembourg399,509+1.5%
27Malta258,824+9.7%

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, 2023) [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, 2023. 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=2023. 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, 2023. 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=2023.

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, 2023 [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=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2023,
  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, 2023}},
  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=2023. 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, 2023
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=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-business-economy/eu-countries?period=2023.
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 38.31 million in 2023, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Malta, with 258,824 in 2023.

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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