EU countries by persons employed in manufacturing

Germany had the highest persons employed in manufacturing of 27 EU countries in 2018, at 8.12 million. Malta had the lowest, at 23,211. The median was 514,806 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 29.89 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest8,123,868Germany

Lowest23,211Malta

Median514,80627 EU countries

European Union (27)29,892,974History

Map of EU countries, 2018

Under 210K
210K to 350K
350K to 670K
670K to 1.3M
1.3M and over

persons, 2018. 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, 2018

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

Rank	EU countries	2018 persons	Change on 2017
1	Germany Series break	8,123,868	+9.6%
2	Italy	3,781,269	+1%
3	France	3,118,058	+0.5%
4	Poland Series break	2,871,186	+8.1%
5	Spain Series break	2,019,905	+5.3%
6	Czechia	1,327,677	+0.6%
7	Romania Series break	1,237,194	+1.8%
8	Hungary Series break	793,465	+4.7%
9	Portugal	735,109	+3.3%
10	Netherlands	715,447	+2.4%
11	Austria Series break	680,136	+6.5%
12	Sweden Series break	644,408	+5.6%
13	Bulgaria Series break	555,902	-0%
14	Slovakia	514,806	+2.7%
15	Belgium Series break	503,883	+0.6%
16	Greece Series break	359,331	+12%
17	Finland	338,332	+1.6%
18	Denmark	321,313	+3.5%
19	Croatia	268,239	-0.2%
20	Ireland	227,338	+3.4%
21	Lithuania Series break	219,286	+1.3%
22	Slovenia	213,814	+4.3%
23	Latvia	120,544	+0.9%
24	Estonia Series break	110,195	+0.1%
25	Luxembourg	34,566	+1.3%
26	Cyprus	34,176	+7.2%
27	Malta	23,211	+2.8%

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. 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, 2018) [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, 2018. 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=2018. 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, 2018. 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=2018.

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, 2018 [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=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2018,
  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, 2018}},
  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=2018. 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, 2018
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=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-manufacturing/eu-countries?period=2018.
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 8.12 million in 2018, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in manufacturing?

Malta, with 23,211 in 2018.

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.