EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024

Germany had the highest persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities of 27 EU countries in 2024, at 2.72 million. Malta had the lowest, at 26,628. The median was 279,661 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 12.69 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest2,724,207Germany

Lowest26,628Malta

Median279,66127 EU countries

European Union (27)12,688,045History

All EU countries, 2024

persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2024 persons	Change on 2023
1	Germany	2,724,207	+3%
2	France	1,588,126	+2.4%
3	Italy	1,539,663	+1.8%
4	Spain	1,169,535	+1.6%
5	Netherlands	842,398	+3.3%
6	Poland	811,357	+1.7%
7	Sweden	399,773	-0.5%
8	Belgium	393,271	+6.4%
9	Portugal	358,250	+5.1%
10	Czechia	316,287	-0.4%
11	Hungary	310,078	+0.6%
12	Greece	308,937	+5.9%
13	Austria	294,974	+1.1%
14	Romania	279,661	-0.7%
15	Ireland	227,829	+3.9%
16	Denmark	204,757	+2.6%
17	Slovakia	172,551	+2.2%
18	Finland	139,370	-3.1%
19	Bulgaria	129,052	+3.1%
20	Croatia	101,502	+3.6%
21	Lithuania	88,619	+3.1%
22	Slovenia	71,913	+0.1%
23	Luxembourg	53,251	+3%
24	Latvia	46,592	+10.2%
25	Estonia	45,949	+1%
26	Cyprus	43,515	+4.3%
27	Malta	26,628	+6.7%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M): 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, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), 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, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act) (EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table

MLA 9

Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024. 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024. 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-professional-scientific/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2024,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs\_ovw\_act): EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024}},
  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-professional-scientific/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), 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, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act): EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 2024
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-professional-scientific/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-professional-scientific/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), 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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Rank EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities?

Germany, with 2.72 million in 2024, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities?

Malta, with 26,628 in 2024.

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, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.