EU countries by persons employed in construction

Germany had the highest persons employed in construction of 27 EU countries in 2015, at 2.2 million. Malta had the lowest, at 10,716. The median was 187,697 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 10.97 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest2,201,393Germany
Lowest10,716Malta
Median187,69727 EU countries
European Union (27)10,974,098History

Map of EU countries, 2015

Austria: 287,944 personsBelgium: 312,862 personsBulgaria: 147,247 personsCyprus: 19,390 personsCzechia: 369,283 personsGermany: 2,201,393 personsDenmark: 175,916 personsEstonia: 44,195 personsSpain: 1,059,440 personsFinland: 187,697 personsFrance: 1,529,502 personsGreece: 131,502 personsCroatia: 99,790 personsHungary: 202,162 personsIreland: 108,720 personsItaly: 1,323,568 personsLithuania: 105,806 personsLuxembourg: 42,453 personsLatvia: 67,431 personsMalta: 10,716 personsNetherlands: 431,194 personsPoland: 850,090 personsPortugal: 297,344 personsRomania: 374,917 personsSweden: 379,905 personsSlovenia: 62,049 personsSlovakia: 151,013 persons
  • Under 70K
  • 70K to 150K
  • 150K to 290K
  • 290K to 420K
  • 420K and over
persons, 2015. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2015

Germany: 2,201,393 personsGermany2,201,393France: 1,529,502 personsFrance1,529,502Italy: 1,323,568 personsItaly1,323,568Spain: 1,059,440 personsSpain1,059,440Poland: 850,090 personsPoland850,090Netherlands: 431,194 personsNetherlands431,194Sweden: 379,905 personsSweden379,905Romania: 374,917 personsRomania374,917Czechia: 369,283 personsCzechia369,283Belgium: 312,862 personsBelgium312,862Portugal: 297,344 personsPortugal297,344Austria: 287,944 personsAustria287,944Hungary: 202,162 personsHungary202,162Finland: 187,697 personsFinland187,697Denmark: 175,916 personsDenmark175,916Slovakia: 151,013 personsSlovakia151,013Bulgaria: 147,247 personsBulgaria147,247Greece: 131,502 personsGreece131,502Ireland: 108,720 personsIreland108,720Lithuania: 105,806 personsLithuania105,806Croatia: 99,790 personsCroatia99,790Latvia: 67,431 personsLatvia67,431Slovenia: 62,049 personsSlovenia62,049Estonia: 44,195 personsEstonia44,195Luxembourg: 42,453 personsLuxembourg42,453Cyprus: 19,390 personsCyprus19,390Malta: 10,716 personsMalta10,716Germany: 2,201,393 personsGermany2,201,393France: 1,529,502 personsFrance1,529,502Italy: 1,323,568 personsItaly1,323,568Spain: 1,059,440 personsSpain1,059,440Poland: 850,090 personsPoland850,090Netherlands: 431,194 personsNetherlands431,194Sweden: 379,905 personsSweden379,905Romania: 374,917 personsRomania374,917Czechia: 369,283 personsCzechia369,283Belgium: 312,862 personsBelgium312,862Portugal: 297,344 personsPortugal297,344Austria: 287,944 personsAustria287,944Hungary: 202,162 personsHungary202,162Finland: 187,697 personsFinland187,697Denmark: 175,916 personsDenmark175,916Slovakia: 151,013 personsSlovakia151,013Bulgaria: 147,247 personsBulgaria147,247Greece: 131,502 personsGreece131,502Ireland: 108,720 personsIreland108,720Lithuania: 105,806 personsLithuania105,806Croatia: 99,790 personsCroatia99,790Latvia: 67,431 personsLatvia67,431Slovenia: 62,049 personsSlovenia62,049Estonia: 44,195 personsEstonia44,195Luxembourg: 42,453 personsLuxembourg42,453Cyprus: 19,390 personsCyprus19,390Malta: 10,716 personsMalta10,716
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2015
persons
Change on 2014
1Germany2,201,393-0%
2France Series break1,529,502-15.6%
3Italy1,323,568-2.4%
4Spain1,059,440+6.9%
5Poland850,090+2.3%
6Netherlands431,194+0.5%
7Sweden379,905+4.5%
8Romania374,917+2.6%
9Czechia369,283+0.2%
10Belgium312,862-3.2%
11Portugal297,344+1%
12Austria287,944-0%
13Hungary202,162+3.9%
14Finland187,697-1.1%
15Denmark175,916+3.9%
16Slovakia151,013-0%
17Bulgaria147,247+0.1%
18Greece131,502-19.6%
19Ireland108,720+8.9%
20Lithuania105,806+2.5%
21Croatia99,790-2.4%
22Latvia67,431-0.9%
23Slovenia62,049+2.2%
24Estonia44,195+1.4%
25Luxembourg42,453+1.8%
26Cyprus19,390+4.7%
27Malta10,716+7.2%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F): 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), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), 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), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in construction, 2015) [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), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in construction, 2015. 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-construction/eu-countries?period=2015. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in construction, 2015. 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-construction/eu-countries?period=2015.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2024) Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in construction, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-construction/eu-countries?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2015,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in construction, 2015}},
  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-construction/eu-countries?period=2015. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), 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), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in construction, 2015
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-construction/eu-countries?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-construction/eu-countries?period=2015.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), 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 construction?

Germany, with 2.2 million in 2015, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in construction?

Malta, with 10,716 in 2015.

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), Construction (NACE Rev. 2 section F), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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