Data / Rankings / Persons employed in professional, scientific and technical activities / EU countries

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 2022, at 2.6 million. Malta had the lowest, at 22,416. The median was 266,184 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 12.11 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest2,604,868Germany
Lowest22,416Malta
Median266,18427 EU countries
European Union (27)12,107,415History

Map of EU countries, 2022

Austria: 282,911 personsBelgium: 381,681 personsBulgaria: 121,964 personsCyprus: 38,424 personsCzechia: 310,711 personsGermany: 2,604,868 personsDenmark: 191,706 personsEstonia: 43,038 personsSpain: 1,124,732 personsFinland: 142,630 personsFrance: 1,498,275 personsGreece: 276,231 personsCroatia: 92,822 personsHungary: 323,341 personsIreland: 209,359 personsItaly: 1,465,947 personsLithuania: 83,715 personsLuxembourg: 50,031 personsLatvia: 42,695 personsMalta: 22,416 personsNetherlands: 789,609 personsPoland: 791,483 personsPortugal: 321,951 personsRomania: 266,184 personsSweden: 395,994 personsSlovenia: 70,221 personsSlovakia: 164,476 persons
  • Under 70K
  • 70K to 180K
  • 180K to 300K
  • 300K to 710K
  • 710K and over
persons, 2022. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Professional, scientific and technical activities (NACE Rev. 2 section M), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2022

Germany: 2,604,868 personsGermany2,604,868France: 1,498,275 personsFrance1,498,275Italy: 1,465,947 personsItaly1,465,947Spain: 1,124,732 personsSpain1,124,732Poland: 791,483 personsPoland791,483Netherlands: 789,609 personsNetherlands789,609Sweden: 395,994 personsSweden395,994Belgium: 381,681 personsBelgium381,681Hungary: 323,341 personsHungary323,341Portugal: 321,951 personsPortugal321,951Czechia: 310,711 personsCzechia310,711Austria: 282,911 personsAustria282,911Greece: 276,231 personsGreece276,231Romania: 266,184 personsRomania266,184Ireland: 209,359 personsIreland209,359Denmark: 191,706 personsDenmark191,706Slovakia: 164,476 personsSlovakia164,476Finland: 142,630 personsFinland142,630Bulgaria: 121,964 personsBulgaria121,964Croatia: 92,822 personsCroatia92,822Lithuania: 83,715 personsLithuania83,715Slovenia: 70,221 personsSlovenia70,221Luxembourg: 50,031 personsLuxembourg50,031Estonia: 43,038 personsEstonia43,038Latvia: 42,695 personsLatvia42,695Cyprus: 38,424 personsCyprus38,424Malta: 22,416 personsMalta22,416Germany: 2,604,868 personsGermany2,604,868France: 1,498,275 personsFrance1,498,275Italy: 1,465,947 personsItaly1,465,947Spain: 1,124,732 personsSpain1,124,732Poland: 791,483 personsPoland791,483Netherlands: 789,609 personsNetherlands789,609Sweden: 395,994 personsSweden395,994Belgium: 381,681 personsBelgium381,681Hungary: 323,341 personsHungary323,341Portugal: 321,951 personsPortugal321,951Czechia: 310,711 personsCzechia310,711Austria: 282,911 personsAustria282,911Greece: 276,231 personsGreece276,231Romania: 266,184 personsRomania266,184Ireland: 209,359 personsIreland209,359Denmark: 191,706 personsDenmark191,706Slovakia: 164,476 personsSlovakia164,476Finland: 142,630 personsFinland142,630Bulgaria: 121,964 personsBulgaria121,964Croatia: 92,822 personsCroatia92,822Lithuania: 83,715 personsLithuania83,715Slovenia: 70,221 personsSlovenia70,221Luxembourg: 50,031 personsLuxembourg50,031Estonia: 43,038 personsEstonia43,038Latvia: 42,695 personsLatvia42,695Cyprus: 38,424 personsCyprus38,424Malta: 22,416 personsMalta22,416
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

RankEU countries2022
persons		Change on 2021
1Germany2,604,868-1.5%
2France1,498,275+8.6%
3Italy1,465,947+5.9%
4Spain1,124,732+4%
5Poland791,483+3.1%
6Netherlands789,609+4%
7Sweden395,994+10.2%
8Belgium381,681+6.1%
9Hungary323,341+3.8%
10Portugal321,951+7.9%
11Czechia310,711+2.6%
12Austria282,911+3.5%
13Greece276,231+4.3%
14Romania266,184+2.6%
15Ireland209,359+14.6%
16Denmark191,706+7.1%
17Slovakia164,476+3.8%
18Finland142,630+6.8%
19Bulgaria121,964+4.2%
20Croatia92,822+3.8%
21Lithuania83,715+8.1%
22Slovenia70,221+6.3%
23Luxembourg50,031+5.8%
24Estonia43,038+9.2%
25Latvia42,695-1.3%
26Cyprus38,424+8.4%
27Malta22,416+6%

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, 2022) [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, 2022. 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?period=2022. 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, 2022. 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?period=2022.

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, 2022 [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?period=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2022,
  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, 2022}},
  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?period=2022. 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, 2022
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?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2022.
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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Questions

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

Germany, with 2.6 million in 2022, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Malta, with 22,416 in 2022.

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.

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