EU countries by persons employed in manufacturing

Germany had the highest persons employed in manufacturing of 26 EU countries in 2014, at 7.27 million. Cyprus had the lowest, at 27,680. The median was 520,548 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 27.4 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest7,269,135Germany
Lowest27,680Cyprus
Median520,54826 EU countries
European Union (27)27,400,000History

Map of EU countries, 2014

Austria: 620,993 personsBelgium: 504,879 personsBulgaria: 536,216 personsCyprus: 27,680 personsCzechia: 1,230,099 personsGermany: 7,269,135 personsDenmark: 360,983 personsEstonia: 107,870 personsSpain: 1,724,072 personsFinland: 347,713 personsFrance: 3,014,251 personsGreece: 324,078 personsCroatia: 254,850 personsHungary: 678,247 personsIreland: 189,966 personsItaly: 3,654,887 personsLithuania: 207,074 personsLuxembourg: 33,311 personsLatvia: 121,746 personsNetherlands: 673,456 personsPoland: 2,425,350 personsPortugal: 650,628 personsRomania: 1,180,098 personsSweden: 622,950 personsSlovenia: 188,697 personsSlovakia: 453,048 persons
  • Under 190K
  • 190K to 360K
  • 360K to 620K
  • 620K to 1.2M
  • 1.2M and over
  • No data
persons, 2014. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2014

Germany: 7,269,135 personsGermany7,269,135Italy: 3,654,887 personsItaly3,654,887France: 3,014,251 personsFrance3,014,251Poland: 2,425,350 personsPoland2,425,350Spain: 1,724,072 personsSpain1,724,072Czechia: 1,230,099 personsCzechia1,230,099Romania: 1,180,098 personsRomania1,180,098Hungary: 678,247 personsHungary678,247Netherlands: 673,456 personsNetherlands673,456Portugal: 650,628 personsPortugal650,628Sweden: 622,950 personsSweden622,950Austria: 620,993 personsAustria620,993Bulgaria: 536,216 personsBulgaria536,216Belgium: 504,879 personsBelgium504,879Slovakia: 453,048 personsSlovakia453,048Denmark: 360,983 personsDenmark360,983Finland: 347,713 personsFinland347,713Greece: 324,078 personsGreece324,078Croatia: 254,850 personsCroatia254,850Lithuania: 207,074 personsLithuania207,074Ireland: 189,966 personsIreland189,966Slovenia: 188,697 personsSlovenia188,697Latvia: 121,746 personsLatvia121,746Estonia: 107,870 personsEstonia107,870Luxembourg: 33,311 personsLuxembourg33,311Cyprus: 27,680 personsCyprus27,680Germany: 7,269,135 personsGermany7,269,135Italy: 3,654,887 personsItaly3,654,887France: 3,014,251 personsFrance3,014,251Poland: 2,425,350 personsPoland2,425,350Spain: 1,724,072 personsSpain1,724,072Czechia: 1,230,099 personsCzechia1,230,099Romania: 1,180,098 personsRomania1,180,098Hungary: 678,247 personsHungary678,247Netherlands: 673,456 personsNetherlands673,456Portugal: 650,628 personsPortugal650,628Sweden: 622,950 personsSweden622,950Austria: 620,993 personsAustria620,993Bulgaria: 536,216 personsBulgaria536,216Belgium: 504,879 personsBelgium504,879Slovakia: 453,048 personsSlovakia453,048Denmark: 360,983 personsDenmark360,983Finland: 347,713 personsFinland347,713Greece: 324,078 personsGreece324,078Croatia: 254,850 personsCroatia254,850Lithuania: 207,074 personsLithuania207,074Ireland: 189,966 personsIreland189,966Slovenia: 188,697 personsSlovenia188,697Latvia: 121,746 personsLatvia121,746Estonia: 107,870 personsEstonia107,870Luxembourg: 33,311 personsLuxembourg33,311Cyprus: 27,680 personsCyprus27,680
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2014
persons
Change on 2013
1Germany7,269,135+0.7%
2Italy3,654,887-2.1%
3France Series break3,014,251+0.3%
4Poland2,425,350+3.3%
5Spain1,724,072-0.7%
6Czechia1,230,099+1.5%
7Romania1,180,098+1.2%
8Hungary678,247+2%
9Netherlands673,456-1.2%
10Portugal650,628+2.1%
11Sweden622,950-2%
12Austria620,993+0.6%
13Bulgaria536,216+2.3%
14Belgium504,879-1.8%
15Slovakia453,048+2.9%
16Denmark360,983+2%
17Finland347,713-1.2%
18Greece324,078+12.1%
19Croatia254,850-2.6%
20Lithuania207,074+4.6%
21Ireland189,966+4.9%
22Slovenia188,697-0%
23Latvia121,746+0.8%
24Estonia107,870+3.2%
25Luxembourg33,311-0.7%
26Cyprus27,680-4.1%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C): 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. 1 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2014 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), 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), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in manufacturing, 2014) [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), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in manufacturing, 2014. 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-manufacturing/eu-countries?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in manufacturing, 2014. 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-manufacturing/eu-countries?period=2014.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2024) Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in manufacturing, 2014 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-manufacturing/eu-countries?period=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2014,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in manufacturing, 2014}},
  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-manufacturing/eu-countries?period=2014. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), 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), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in manufacturing, 2014
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-manufacturing/eu-countries?period=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-manufacturing/eu-countries?period=2014.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), 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 manufacturing?

Germany, with 7.27 million in 2014, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in manufacturing?

Cyprus, with 27,680 in 2014.

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), Manufacturing (NACE Rev. 2 section C), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 EU countries have no value for 2014 and are not ranked.

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