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 2018, at 2.72 million. Malta had the lowest, at 17,664. The median was 215,265 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 11.1 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest2,717,706Germany

Lowest17,664Malta

Median215,26527 EU countries

European Union (27)11,099,373History

Map of EU countries, 2018

Under 60K
60K to 150K
150K to 260K
260K to 630K
630K and over

persons, 2018. 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, 2018

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

Rank	EU countries	2018 persons	Change on 2017
1	Germany Series break	2,717,706	-4.1%
2	Italy	1,306,012	+3.7%
3	France	1,283,781	-0.4%
4	Spain Series break	1,106,863	+4.8%
5	Poland Series break	700,508	+6.7%
6	Netherlands	700,237	+4.1%
7	Sweden Series break	340,258	-1.8%
8	Belgium Series break	325,543	-0.8%
9	Czechia	290,484	+2.8%
10	Hungary Series break	269,331	+5.7%
11	Portugal	267,213	+5.2%
12	Greece Series break	240,830	+9.8%
13	Austria Series break	235,818	-6.9%
14	Romania Series break	215,265	+0.9%
15	Denmark	170,695	+1.8%
16	Slovakia	156,055	+6.7%
17	Ireland	154,162	+6.1%
18	Finland	129,504	+2.5%
19	Bulgaria Series break	113,877	+3.4%
20	Croatia	75,987	+0.8%
21	Lithuania Series break	67,577	-0.2%
22	Slovenia	61,730	+3.6%
23	Latvia	51,118	+5.2%
24	Luxembourg	41,754	+6.7%
25	Cyprus	29,754	+8.7%
26	Estonia Series break	29,707	+0.9%
27	Malta	17,664	+15.5%

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, 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), 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, 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2018. 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, 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2018.

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, 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-professional-scientific/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), 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, 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2018. 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, 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-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2018.
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 2.72 million in 2018, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Malta, with 17,664 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), Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.