EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying

Poland had the highest persons employed in mining and quarrying of 27 EU countries in 2017, at 137,530. Malta had the lowest, at 181. The median was 6,289 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 413,254. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest137,530Poland

Lowest181Malta

Median6,28927 EU countries

European Union (27)413,254History

Map of EU countries, 2017

Under 3,000
3,000 to 5,000
5,000 to 8,000
8,000 to 19K
19K and over

persons, 2017. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2017

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

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2017 persons	Change on 2016
1	Poland	137,530	-8.9%
2	Germany	52,296	-5.7%
3	Romania	37,426	-7%
4	Czechia	25,551	-8.4%
5	Bulgaria	21,959	-8.8%
6	Spain	19,569	-3.9%
7	Italy Series break	17,706	-40.3%
8	France Series break	13,483	-29.1%
9	Sweden	11,069	+1.6%
10	Portugal	9,459	+3.6%
11	Netherlands	8,636	-18.2%
12	Finland Series break	7,030	+12.3%
13	Slovakia	6,364	-4.7%
14	Austria	6,289	+1.5%
15	Greece	5,634	+7.6%
16	Denmark	4,989	+80.6%
17	Estonia	4,378	+0.8%
18	Ireland	4,155	+2.4%
19	Croatia	4,020	-4.5%
20	Hungary	3,982	+0.6%
21	Latvia	3,055	-3.5%
22	Lithuania	2,665	+0.9%
23	Belgium	2,625	-0.9%
24	Slovenia	2,409	+1.3%
25	Cyprus	522	+22%
26	Luxembourg	272	+4.2%
27	Malta	181	n/a

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B): 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), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), 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), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 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), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 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-mining/eu-countries?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 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-mining/eu-countries?period=2017.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2024) Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 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-mining/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), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 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-mining/eu-countries?period=2017. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), 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), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 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-mining/eu-countries?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-mining/eu-countries?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), 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 mining and quarrying?

Poland, with 137,530 in 2017, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in mining and quarrying?

Malta, with 181 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), Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.