EU countries by persons employed in information and communication

Germany had the highest persons employed in information and communication of 27 EU countries in 2020, at 1.48 million. Malta had the lowest, at 10,817. The median was 122,763 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 6.42 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest1,478,709Germany

Lowest10,817Malta

Median122,76327 EU countries

European Union (27)6,419,526History

Map of EU countries, 2020

Under 40K
40K to 110K
110K to 140K
140K to 320K
320K and over

persons, 2020. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2020

persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2020 persons	Change on 2019
1	Germany	1,478,709	-2.8%
2	France	956,945	+2.9%
3	Italy	594,060	+1.8%
4	Spain	552,391	+4.2%
5	Poland	435,462	+3.2%
6	Netherlands	341,359	+2.4%
7	Sweden	253,280	-2.5%
8	Romania	217,050	+4.4%
9	Czechia	157,386	+2.1%
10	Hungary	150,703	+2.1%
11	Belgium	149,310	-1.5%
12	Portugal	130,889	+6.6%
13	Austria	124,316	+1.9%
14	Ireland	122,763	+3.4%
15	Denmark	122,738	0%
16	Bulgaria	117,958	+3.1%
17	Finland	107,474	+1.8%
18	Greece	88,669	+0.4%
19	Slovakia	78,007	+3.5%
20	Croatia	53,409	+3.7%
21	Lithuania	41,160	+6.3%
22	Latvia	38,991	+2.6%
23	Slovenia	30,626	+5.5%
24	Estonia	29,844	+2.8%
25	Luxembourg	20,757	+0.1%
26	Cyprus	14,251	+3.9%
27	Malta	10,817	+0.6%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J): 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), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), 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), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in information and communication, 2020) [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), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in information and communication, 2020. 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-information-communication/eu-countries?period=2020. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in information and communication, 2020. 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-information-communication/eu-countries?period=2020.

Harvard

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

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2020,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in information and communication, 2020}},
  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-information-communication/eu-countries?period=2020. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), 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), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in information and communication, 2020
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-information-communication/eu-countries?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-information-communication/eu-countries?period=2020.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), 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  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/persons-employed-information-communication/eu-countries?period=2020" width="760" height="500" title="EU countries by persons employed in information and communication, 2020, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank EU countries by persons employed in information and communication using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"sbs_persons_employed_information_communication","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=sbs_persons_employed_information_communication&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which EU country has the highest persons employed in information and communication?

Germany, with 1.48 million in 2020, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in information and communication?

Malta, with 10,817 in 2020.

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), Information and communication (NACE Rev. 2 section J), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.