Data / Rankings / Persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles / EU countries

EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles

Germany had the highest persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles of 27 EU countries in 2016, at 6.3 million. Malta had the lowest, at 34,508. The median was 573,901 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 28.59 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest6,295,791Germany
Lowest34,508Malta
Median573,90127 EU countries
European Union (27)28,591,622History

Map of EU countries, 2016

Austria: 657,152 personsBelgium: 618,803 personsBulgaria: 509,155 personsCyprus: 64,624 personsCzechia: 708,314 personsGermany: 6,295,791 personsDenmark: 454,091 personsEstonia: 93,340 personsSpain: 3,107,491 personsFinland: 289,571 personsFrance: 3,477,493 personsGreece: 711,928 personsCroatia: 228,232 personsHungary: 573,901 personsIreland: 356,057 personsItaly: 3,371,633 personsLithuania: 255,893 personsLuxembourg: 50,933 personsLatvia: 159,493 personsMalta: 34,508 personsNetherlands: 1,489,898 personsPoland: 2,298,349 personsPortugal: 749,170 personsRomania: 907,015 personsSweden: 675,396 personsSlovenia: 114,168 personsSlovakia: 342,878 persons
  • Under 170K
  • 170K to 400K
  • 400K to 670K
  • 670K to 1.4M
  • 1.4M and over
persons, 2016. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2016

Germany: 6,295,791 personsGermany6,295,791France: 3,477,493 personsFrance3,477,493Italy: 3,371,633 personsItaly3,371,633Spain: 3,107,491 personsSpain3,107,491Poland: 2,298,349 personsPoland2,298,349Netherlands: 1,489,898 personsNetherlands1,489,898Romania: 907,015 personsRomania907,015Portugal: 749,170 personsPortugal749,170Greece: 711,928 personsGreece711,928Czechia: 708,314 personsCzechia708,314Sweden: 675,396 personsSweden675,396Austria: 657,152 personsAustria657,152Belgium: 618,803 personsBelgium618,803Hungary: 573,901 personsHungary573,901Bulgaria: 509,155 personsBulgaria509,155Denmark: 454,091 personsDenmark454,091Ireland: 356,057 personsIreland356,057Slovakia: 342,878 personsSlovakia342,878Finland: 289,571 personsFinland289,571Lithuania: 255,893 personsLithuania255,893Croatia: 228,232 personsCroatia228,232Latvia: 159,493 personsLatvia159,493Slovenia: 114,168 personsSlovenia114,168Estonia: 93,340 personsEstonia93,340Cyprus: 64,624 personsCyprus64,624Luxembourg: 50,933 personsLuxembourg50,933Malta: 34,508 personsMalta34,508Germany: 6,295,791 personsGermany6,295,791France: 3,477,493 personsFrance3,477,493Italy: 3,371,633 personsItaly3,371,633Spain: 3,107,491 personsSpain3,107,491Poland: 2,298,349 personsPoland2,298,349Netherlands: 1,489,898 personsNetherlands1,489,898Romania: 907,015 personsRomania907,015Portugal: 749,170 personsPortugal749,170Greece: 711,928 personsGreece711,928Czechia: 708,314 personsCzechia708,314Sweden: 675,396 personsSweden675,396Austria: 657,152 personsAustria657,152Belgium: 618,803 personsBelgium618,803Hungary: 573,901 personsHungary573,901Bulgaria: 509,155 personsBulgaria509,155Denmark: 454,091 personsDenmark454,091Ireland: 356,057 personsIreland356,057Slovakia: 342,878 personsSlovakia342,878Finland: 289,571 personsFinland289,571Lithuania: 255,893 personsLithuania255,893Croatia: 228,232 personsCroatia228,232Latvia: 159,493 personsLatvia159,493Slovenia: 114,168 personsSlovenia114,168Estonia: 93,340 personsEstonia93,340Cyprus: 64,624 personsCyprus64,624Luxembourg: 50,933 personsLuxembourg50,933Malta: 34,508 personsMalta34,508
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2016
persons		Change on 2015
1Germany6,295,791-0.6%
2France Series break3,477,493+4.8%
3Italy3,371,633+2.1%
4Spain3,107,491+5.2%
5Poland2,298,349+2.4%
6Netherlands1,489,898+1.1%
7Romania907,015+2.8%
8Portugal749,170+1.8%
9Greece711,928+11.1%
10Czechia708,314-0.1%
11Sweden675,396+2.9%
12Austria657,152+0.3%
13Belgium618,803-2.1%
14Hungary573,901+1.7%
15Bulgaria509,155+2.6%
16Denmark Series break454,091+7.9%
17Ireland356,057+2.9%
18Slovakia342,878+3%
19Finland289,571-1.4%
20Lithuania255,893+0.4%
21Croatia228,232+0.6%
22Latvia159,493-1.4%
23Slovenia114,168+1.3%
24Estonia93,340+2.2%
25Cyprus64,624+4%
26Luxembourg50,933+1.6%
27Malta34,508+6.5%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G): 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), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), 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), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 2016) [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), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 2016. 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-trade/eu-countries?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 2016. 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-trade/eu-countries?period=2016.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2024) Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_na_sca_r2/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-trade/eu-countries?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2016,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 2016}},
  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-trade/eu-countries?period=2016. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), 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), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 2016
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-trade/eu-countries?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-trade/eu-countries?period=2016.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), 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  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"sbs_persons_employed_trade","level":"country","within":"European Union (27)","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=sbs_persons_employed_trade&level=country&within=European%20Union%20(27)&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which EU country has the highest persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles?

Germany, with 6.3 million in 2016, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles?

Malta, with 34,508 in 2016.

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), Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

EU countries: more rankings