EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying

Poland had the highest persons employed in mining and quarrying of 26 EU countries in 2021, at 146,006. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 270. The median was 5,863 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 378,000. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest146,006Poland

Lowest270Luxembourg

Median5,86326 EU countries

European Union (27)378,000History

Map of EU countries, 2021

Under 2,000
2,000 to 4,000
4,000 to 8,000
8,000 to 18K
18K and over
No data

persons, 2021. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2021

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

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2021 persons	Change on 2020
1	Poland Series break	146,006	-1.5%
2	Germany Series break	38,149	+0.5%
3	Romania Series break	26,873	+5.2%
4	Czechia Series break	19,687	-14.5%
5	Bulgaria Series break	19,529	-3.6%
6	Spain Series break	18,317	+6.3%
7	Italy Series break	16,929	+0.8%
8	France Series break	15,804	+4%
9	Portugal Series break	9,595	-0.5%
10	Sweden Series break	9,209	+10.8%
11	Netherlands Series break	7,741	-8.6%
12	Austria Series break	6,716	-3.5%
13	Finland Series break	6,338	n/a
14	Greece Series break	5,387	-3.6%
15	Slovakia Series break	5,137	-15%
16	Denmark Series break	3,978	-6.8%
17	Hungary Series break	3,929	-1.3%
18	Latvia Series break	3,552	+5%
19	Ireland Series break	3,116	+3.4%
20	Lithuania Series break	2,853	+6.5%
21	Slovenia Series break	2,335	-0.2%
22	Belgium Series break	2,320	-5%
23	Estonia Series break	2,191	-29.9%
24	Croatia Series break	1,745	-10.6%
25	Cyprus Series break	560	+8.1%
26	Luxembourg Series break	270	+1.5%

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. 1 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2021 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/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. (2026). Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act) (EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table

MLA 9

Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 2021. Eurostat, European Commission, 30 Sept. 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-mining/eu-countries?period=2021. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-mining/eu-countries?period=2021.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-mining/eu-countries?period=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2021,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs\_ovw\_act): EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 2021}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-mining/eu-countries?period=2021. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs\_ovw\_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs\_ovw\_act/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act): EU countries by persons employed in mining and quarrying, 2021
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-mining/eu-countries?period=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-mining/eu-countries?period=2021.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/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 146,006 in 2021, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Luxembourg, with 270 in 2021.

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, Mining and quarrying (NACE Rev. 2 section B), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 EU countries have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.