Data / Rankings / Persons employed in construction / EU countries

EU countries by persons employed in construction

Germany had the highest persons employed in construction of 27 EU countries in 2017, at 2.3 million. Malta had the lowest, at 10,366. The median was 203,056 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 11.53 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest2,304,882Germany
Lowest10,366Malta
Median203,05627 EU countries
European Union (27)11,534,673History

Map of EU countries, 2017

Austria: 301,204 personsBelgium: 335,695 personsBulgaria: 146,595 personsCyprus: 26,124 personsCzechia: 370,024 personsGermany: 2,304,882 personsDenmark: 175,443 personsEstonia: 47,739 personsSpain: 1,150,639 personsFinland: 203,056 personsFrance: 1,675,716 personsGreece: 123,749 personsCroatia: 102,462 personsHungary: 216,068 personsIreland: 137,239 personsItaly: 1,314,006 personsLithuania: 107,218 personsLuxembourg: 45,019 personsLatvia: 66,457 personsMalta: 10,366 personsNetherlands: 449,617 personsPoland: 908,972 personsPortugal: 312,914 personsRomania: 362,741 personsSweden: 413,004 personsSlovenia: 62,421 personsSlovakia: 164,604 persons
  • Under 70K
  • 70K to 150K
  • 150K to 310K
  • 310K to 440K
  • 440K and over
persons, 2017. 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, 2017

Germany: 2,304,882 personsGermany2,304,882France: 1,675,716 personsFrance1,675,716Italy: 1,314,006 personsItaly1,314,006Spain: 1,150,639 personsSpain1,150,639Poland: 908,972 personsPoland908,972Netherlands: 449,617 personsNetherlands449,617Sweden: 413,004 personsSweden413,004Czechia: 370,024 personsCzechia370,024Romania: 362,741 personsRomania362,741Belgium: 335,695 personsBelgium335,695Portugal: 312,914 personsPortugal312,914Austria: 301,204 personsAustria301,204Hungary: 216,068 personsHungary216,068Finland: 203,056 personsFinland203,056Denmark: 175,443 personsDenmark175,443Slovakia: 164,604 personsSlovakia164,604Bulgaria: 146,595 personsBulgaria146,595Ireland: 137,239 personsIreland137,239Greece: 123,749 personsGreece123,749Lithuania: 107,218 personsLithuania107,218Croatia: 102,462 personsCroatia102,462Latvia: 66,457 personsLatvia66,457Slovenia: 62,421 personsSlovenia62,421Estonia: 47,739 personsEstonia47,739Luxembourg: 45,019 personsLuxembourg45,019Cyprus: 26,124 personsCyprus26,124Malta: 10,366 personsMalta10,366Germany: 2,304,882 personsGermany2,304,882France: 1,675,716 personsFrance1,675,716Italy: 1,314,006 personsItaly1,314,006Spain: 1,150,639 personsSpain1,150,639Poland: 908,972 personsPoland908,972Netherlands: 449,617 personsNetherlands449,617Sweden: 413,004 personsSweden413,004Czechia: 370,024 personsCzechia370,024Romania: 362,741 personsRomania362,741Belgium: 335,695 personsBelgium335,695Portugal: 312,914 personsPortugal312,914Austria: 301,204 personsAustria301,204Hungary: 216,068 personsHungary216,068Finland: 203,056 personsFinland203,056Denmark: 175,443 personsDenmark175,443Slovakia: 164,604 personsSlovakia164,604Bulgaria: 146,595 personsBulgaria146,595Ireland: 137,239 personsIreland137,239Greece: 123,749 personsGreece123,749Lithuania: 107,218 personsLithuania107,218Croatia: 102,462 personsCroatia102,462Latvia: 66,457 personsLatvia66,457Slovenia: 62,421 personsSlovenia62,421Estonia: 47,739 personsEstonia47,739Luxembourg: 45,019 personsLuxembourg45,019Cyprus: 26,124 personsCyprus26,124Malta: 10,366 personsMalta10,366
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 countries2017
persons		Change on 2016
1Germany2,304,882+1.4%
2France Series break1,675,716+1.5%
3Italy Series break1,314,006-0.8%
4Spain1,150,639+5%
5Poland908,972+2.2%
6Netherlands449,617+3.3%
7Sweden413,004+4.7%
8Czechia370,024+0.7%
9Romania362,741-3%
10Belgium335,695+5.5%
11Portugal312,914+3.7%
12Austria301,204+3%
13Hungary216,068+4.6%
14Finland Series break203,056+5.6%
15Denmark175,443+3.8%
16Slovakia164,604+8%
17Bulgaria146,595+2.8%
18Ireland137,239+14%
19Greece123,749-16.4%
20Lithuania107,218+2.1%
21Croatia102,462+3.7%
22Latvia66,457+4.7%
23Slovenia62,421+2.1%
24Estonia47,739+3.2%
25Luxembourg45,019+2.9%
26Cyprus26,124+22.3%
27Malta10,366-5.5%

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, 2017) [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, 2017. 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=2017. 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, 2017. 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=2017.

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, 2017 [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=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2017,
  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, 2017}},
  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=2017. 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, 2017
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=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-construction/eu-countries?period=2017.
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 2.3 million in 2017, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in construction?

Malta, with 10,366 in 2017.

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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