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 2023, at 2.65 million. Malta had the lowest, at 24,961. The median was 281,651 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 12.4 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest2,645,642Germany
Lowest24,961Malta
Median281,65127 EU countries
European Union (27)12,395,168History

Map of EU countries, 2023

Austria: 291,806 personsBelgium: 369,534 personsBulgaria: 125,145 personsCyprus: 41,729 personsCzechia: 317,581 personsGermany: 2,645,642 personsDenmark: 199,616 personsEstonia: 45,505 personsSpain: 1,150,641 personsFinland: 143,764 personsFrance: 1,550,692 personsGreece: 291,634 personsCroatia: 97,984 personsHungary: 308,371 personsIreland: 219,316 personsItaly: 1,513,099 personsLithuania: 85,913 personsLuxembourg: 51,706 personsLatvia: 42,297 personsMalta: 24,961 personsNetherlands: 815,349 personsPoland: 798,036 personsPortugal: 340,714 personsRomania: 281,651 personsSweden: 401,803 personsSlovenia: 71,858 personsSlovakia: 168,821 persons
  • Under 70K
  • 70K to 180K
  • 180K to 300K
  • 300K to 720K
  • 720K and over
persons, 2023. 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, 2023

Germany: 2,645,642 personsGermany2,645,642France: 1,550,692 personsFrance1,550,692Italy: 1,513,099 personsItaly1,513,099Spain: 1,150,641 personsSpain1,150,641Netherlands: 815,349 personsNetherlands815,349Poland: 798,036 personsPoland798,036Sweden: 401,803 personsSweden401,803Belgium: 369,534 personsBelgium369,534Portugal: 340,714 personsPortugal340,714Czechia: 317,581 personsCzechia317,581Hungary: 308,371 personsHungary308,371Austria: 291,806 personsAustria291,806Greece: 291,634 personsGreece291,634Romania: 281,651 personsRomania281,651Ireland: 219,316 personsIreland219,316Denmark: 199,616 personsDenmark199,616Slovakia: 168,821 personsSlovakia168,821Finland: 143,764 personsFinland143,764Bulgaria: 125,145 personsBulgaria125,145Croatia: 97,984 personsCroatia97,984Lithuania: 85,913 personsLithuania85,913Slovenia: 71,858 personsSlovenia71,858Luxembourg: 51,706 personsLuxembourg51,706Estonia: 45,505 personsEstonia45,505Latvia: 42,297 personsLatvia42,297Cyprus: 41,729 personsCyprus41,729Malta: 24,961 personsMalta24,961Germany: 2,645,642 personsGermany2,645,642France: 1,550,692 personsFrance1,550,692Italy: 1,513,099 personsItaly1,513,099Spain: 1,150,641 personsSpain1,150,641Netherlands: 815,349 personsNetherlands815,349Poland: 798,036 personsPoland798,036Sweden: 401,803 personsSweden401,803Belgium: 369,534 personsBelgium369,534Portugal: 340,714 personsPortugal340,714Czechia: 317,581 personsCzechia317,581Hungary: 308,371 personsHungary308,371Austria: 291,806 personsAustria291,806Greece: 291,634 personsGreece291,634Romania: 281,651 personsRomania281,651Ireland: 219,316 personsIreland219,316Denmark: 199,616 personsDenmark199,616Slovakia: 168,821 personsSlovakia168,821Finland: 143,764 personsFinland143,764Bulgaria: 125,145 personsBulgaria125,145Croatia: 97,984 personsCroatia97,984Lithuania: 85,913 personsLithuania85,913Slovenia: 71,858 personsSlovenia71,858Luxembourg: 51,706 personsLuxembourg51,706Estonia: 45,505 personsEstonia45,505Latvia: 42,297 personsLatvia42,297Cyprus: 41,729 personsCyprus41,729Malta: 24,961 personsMalta24,961
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 countries2023
persons		Change on 2022
1Germany2,645,642+1.6%
2France1,550,692+3.5%
3Italy1,513,099+3.2%
4Spain1,150,641+2.3%
5Netherlands815,349+3.3%
6Poland798,036+0.8%
7Sweden401,803+1.5%
8Belgium369,534-3.2%
9Portugal340,714+5.8%
10Czechia317,581+2.2%
11Hungary308,371-4.6%
12Austria291,806+3.1%
13Greece291,634+5.6%
14Romania281,651+5.8%
15Ireland219,316+4.8%
16Denmark199,616+4.1%
17Slovakia168,821+2.6%
18Finland143,764+0.8%
19Bulgaria125,145+2.6%
20Croatia97,984+5.6%
21Lithuania85,913+2.6%
22Slovenia71,858+2.3%
23Luxembourg51,706+3.3%
24Estonia45,505+5.7%
25Latvia42,297-0.9%
26Cyprus41,729+8.6%
27Malta24,961+11.4%

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, 2023) [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, 2023. 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=2023. 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, 2023. 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=2023.

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, 2023 [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=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2023,
  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, 2023}},
  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=2023. 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, 2023
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=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-professional-scientific/eu-countries?period=2023.
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 2.65 million in 2023, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Malta, with 24,961 in 2023.

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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