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 2023, at 6.28 million. Malta had the lowest, at 42,164. The median was 606,395 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 29.8 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest6,280,269Germany
Lowest42,164Malta
Median606,39527 EU countries
European Union (27)29,803,500History

Map of EU countries, 2023

Austria: 720,092 personsBelgium: 635,797 personsBulgaria: 513,302 personsCyprus: 77,463 personsCzechia: 741,424 personsGermany: 6,280,269 personsDenmark: 488,075 personsEstonia: 102,478 personsSpain: 3,139,810 personsFinland: 283,662 personsFrance: 3,755,073 personsGreece: 838,882 personsCroatia: 255,518 personsHungary: 606,395 personsIreland: 419,705 personsItaly: 3,455,742 personsLithuania: 247,318 personsLuxembourg: 55,142 personsLatvia: 140,903 personsMalta: 42,164 personsNetherlands: 1,622,970 personsPoland: 2,399,227 personsPortugal: 842,108 personsRomania: 1,008,341 personsSweden: 678,188 personsSlovenia: 124,436 personsSlovakia: 329,016 persons
  • Under 160K
  • 160K to 450K
  • 450K to 700K
  • 700K to 1.5M
  • 1.5M and over
persons, 2023. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2023

Germany: 6,280,269 personsGermany6,280,269France: 3,755,073 personsFrance3,755,073Italy: 3,455,742 personsItaly3,455,742Spain: 3,139,810 personsSpain3,139,810Poland: 2,399,227 personsPoland2,399,227Netherlands: 1,622,970 personsNetherlands1,622,970Romania: 1,008,341 personsRomania1,008,341Portugal: 842,108 personsPortugal842,108Greece: 838,882 personsGreece838,882Czechia: 741,424 personsCzechia741,424Austria: 720,092 personsAustria720,092Sweden: 678,188 personsSweden678,188Belgium: 635,797 personsBelgium635,797Hungary: 606,395 personsHungary606,395Bulgaria: 513,302 personsBulgaria513,302Denmark: 488,075 personsDenmark488,075Ireland: 419,705 personsIreland419,705Slovakia: 329,016 personsSlovakia329,016Finland: 283,662 personsFinland283,662Croatia: 255,518 personsCroatia255,518Lithuania: 247,318 personsLithuania247,318Latvia: 140,903 personsLatvia140,903Slovenia: 124,436 personsSlovenia124,436Estonia: 102,478 personsEstonia102,478Cyprus: 77,463 personsCyprus77,463Luxembourg: 55,142 personsLuxembourg55,142Malta: 42,164 personsMalta42,164Germany: 6,280,269 personsGermany6,280,269France: 3,755,073 personsFrance3,755,073Italy: 3,455,742 personsItaly3,455,742Spain: 3,139,810 personsSpain3,139,810Poland: 2,399,227 personsPoland2,399,227Netherlands: 1,622,970 personsNetherlands1,622,970Romania: 1,008,341 personsRomania1,008,341Portugal: 842,108 personsPortugal842,108Greece: 838,882 personsGreece838,882Czechia: 741,424 personsCzechia741,424Austria: 720,092 personsAustria720,092Sweden: 678,188 personsSweden678,188Belgium: 635,797 personsBelgium635,797Hungary: 606,395 personsHungary606,395Bulgaria: 513,302 personsBulgaria513,302Denmark: 488,075 personsDenmark488,075Ireland: 419,705 personsIreland419,705Slovakia: 329,016 personsSlovakia329,016Finland: 283,662 personsFinland283,662Croatia: 255,518 personsCroatia255,518Lithuania: 247,318 personsLithuania247,318Latvia: 140,903 personsLatvia140,903Slovenia: 124,436 personsSlovenia124,436Estonia: 102,478 personsEstonia102,478Cyprus: 77,463 personsCyprus77,463Luxembourg: 55,142 personsLuxembourg55,142Malta: 42,164 personsMalta42,164
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2023
persons		Change on 2022
1Germany6,280,269-2.3%
2France3,755,073+0.3%
3Italy3,455,742+1.1%
4Spain3,139,8100%
5Poland2,399,227-1%
6Netherlands1,622,9700%
7Romania1,008,341+1.7%
8Portugal842,108+2%
9Greece838,882+2.9%
10Czechia741,424-0.7%
11Austria720,092-0.1%
12Sweden678,188+0.2%
13Belgium635,797+4.8%
14Hungary606,395-0.8%
15Bulgaria513,302+0.5%
16Denmark488,075-0.3%
17Ireland419,705+1.5%
18Slovakia329,016-0.2%
19Finland283,662-0.1%
20Croatia255,518+3.6%
21Lithuania247,318-0.1%
22Latvia140,903-2.5%
23Slovenia124,436+0.4%
24Estonia102,478+1%
25Cyprus77,463+2.1%
26Luxembourg55,142+1%
27Malta42,164+3.4%

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, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), 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, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act) (EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 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, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 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-trade/eu-countries?period=2023. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Structural business statistics, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 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-trade/eu-countries?period=2023.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Structural business statistics, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 2023 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-trade/eu-countries?period=2023 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2023,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs\_ovw\_act): EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 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-trade/eu-countries?period=2023. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), 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, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act): EU countries by persons employed in wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, 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-trade/eu-countries?period=2023
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-trade/eu-countries?period=2023.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), 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 wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles?

Germany, with 6.28 million in 2023, 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 42,164 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, Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles (NACE Rev. 2 section G), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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