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

Germany had the highest persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities of 27 EU countries in 2014, at 2.45 million. Malta had the lowest, at 10,984. The median was 198,376 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 10.09 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest2,453,401Germany
Lowest10,984Malta
Median198,37627 EU countries
European Union (27)10,091,730History

Map of EU countries, 2014

Austria: 236,342 personsBelgium: 289,156 personsBulgaria: 96,056 personsCyprus: 22,153 personsCzechia: 255,935 personsGermany: 2,453,401 personsDenmark: 161,008 personsEstonia: 25,956 personsSpain: 938,616 personsFinland: 121,457 personsFrance: 1,354,292 personsGreece: 276,335 personsCroatia: 74,682 personsHungary: 221,782 personsIreland: 120,244 personsItaly: 1,186,817 personsLithuania: 58,752 personsLuxembourg: 31,306 personsLatvia: 43,888 personsMalta: 10,984 personsNetherlands: 633,893 personsPoland: 578,787 personsPortugal: 224,668 personsRomania: 198,376 personsSweden: 300,029 personsSlovenia: 54,355 personsSlovakia: 120,950 persons
  • Under 60K
  • 60K to 120K
  • 120K to 230K
  • 230K to 520K
  • 520K and over
persons, 2014. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2014

Germany: 2,453,401 personsGermany2,453,401France: 1,354,292 personsFrance1,354,292Italy: 1,186,817 personsItaly1,186,817Spain: 938,616 personsSpain938,616Netherlands: 633,893 personsNetherlands633,893Poland: 578,787 personsPoland578,787Sweden: 300,029 personsSweden300,029Belgium: 289,156 personsBelgium289,156Greece: 276,335 personsGreece276,335Czechia: 255,935 personsCzechia255,935Austria: 236,342 personsAustria236,342Portugal: 224,668 personsPortugal224,668Hungary: 221,782 personsHungary221,782Romania: 198,376 personsRomania198,376Denmark: 161,008 personsDenmark161,008Finland: 121,457 personsFinland121,457Slovakia: 120,950 personsSlovakia120,950Ireland: 120,244 personsIreland120,244Bulgaria: 96,056 personsBulgaria96,056Croatia: 74,682 personsCroatia74,682Lithuania: 58,752 personsLithuania58,752Slovenia: 54,355 personsSlovenia54,355Latvia: 43,888 personsLatvia43,888Luxembourg: 31,306 personsLuxembourg31,306Estonia: 25,956 personsEstonia25,956Cyprus: 22,153 personsCyprus22,153Malta: 10,984 personsMalta10,984Germany: 2,453,401 personsGermany2,453,401France: 1,354,292 personsFrance1,354,292Italy: 1,186,817 personsItaly1,186,817Spain: 938,616 personsSpain938,616Netherlands: 633,893 personsNetherlands633,893Poland: 578,787 personsPoland578,787Sweden: 300,029 personsSweden300,029Belgium: 289,156 personsBelgium289,156Greece: 276,335 personsGreece276,335Czechia: 255,935 personsCzechia255,935Austria: 236,342 personsAustria236,342Portugal: 224,668 personsPortugal224,668Hungary: 221,782 personsHungary221,782Romania: 198,376 personsRomania198,376Denmark: 161,008 personsDenmark161,008Finland: 121,457 personsFinland121,457Slovakia: 120,950 personsSlovakia120,950Ireland: 120,244 personsIreland120,244Bulgaria: 96,056 personsBulgaria96,056Croatia: 74,682 personsCroatia74,682Lithuania: 58,752 personsLithuania58,752Slovenia: 54,355 personsSlovenia54,355Latvia: 43,888 personsLatvia43,888Luxembourg: 31,306 personsLuxembourg31,306Estonia: 25,956 personsEstonia25,956Cyprus: 22,153 personsCyprus22,153Malta: 10,984 personsMalta10,984
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2014
persons
Change on 2013
1Germany2,453,401+10.3%
2France Series break1,354,292-4.2%
3Italy1,186,817+1.1%
4Spain938,616+3.4%
5Netherlands633,893-0.1%
6Poland578,787+7.6%
7Sweden300,029+2.7%
8Belgium289,156+5.5%
9Greece276,335+35.8%
10Czechia255,935+3.1%
11Austria236,3420%
12Portugal224,668+4.3%
13Hungary221,782+9.1%
14Romania198,376+0.7%
15Denmark161,008-0.1%
16Finland121,457+2.4%
17Slovakia120,950+16.3%
18Ireland120,244+4.2%
19Bulgaria96,056+2.9%
20Croatia74,682-6.5%
21Lithuania58,752+10.9%
22Slovenia54,355-0.7%
23Latvia43,888+13.1%
24Luxembourg31,306+3.7%
25Estonia25,956-0.7%
26Cyprus22,153+8.8%
27Malta10,984+6.3%

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 (2005 to 2020), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), 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), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 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), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2014.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2024) Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 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-professional-scientific/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), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2014. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), 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), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities, 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2014.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), 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 professional, scientific and technical activities?

Germany, with 2.45 million in 2014, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Malta, with 10,984 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), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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