Data / Rankings / Persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation / EU countries

EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 2024

Germany had the highest persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation of 27 EU countries in 2024, at 315,362. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 1,600. The median was 26,756 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 1.67 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest315,362Germany
Lowest1,600Luxembourg
Median26,75627 EU countries
European Union (27)1,665,602History

Map of EU countries, 2024

Austria: 22,771 personsBelgium: 28,445 personsBulgaria: 30,796 personsCyprus: 1,857 personsCzechia: 55,928 personsGermany: 315,362 personsDenmark: 14,268 personsEstonia: 3,619 personsSpain: 181,689 personsFinland: 13,424 personsFrance: 264,937 personsGreece: 17,380 personsCroatia: 31,679 personsHungary: 45,468 personsIreland: 11,696 personsItaly: 234,818 personsLithuania: 12,418 personsLuxembourg: 1,600 personsLatvia: 6,871 personsMalta: 2,114 personsNetherlands: 31,786 personsPoland: 151,377 personsPortugal: 40,359 personsRomania: 87,403 personsSweden: 26,756 personsSlovenia: 11,126 personsSlovakia: 19,655 persons
  • Under 11K
  • 11K to 18K
  • 18K to 31K
  • 31K to 81K
  • 81K and over
persons, 2024. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2024

Germany: 315,362 personsGermany315,362France: 264,937 personsFrance264,937Italy: 234,818 personsItaly234,818Spain: 181,689 personsSpain181,689Poland: 151,377 personsPoland151,377Romania: 87,403 personsRomania87,403Czechia: 55,928 personsCzechia55,928Hungary: 45,468 personsHungary45,468Portugal: 40,359 personsPortugal40,359Netherlands: 31,786 personsNetherlands31,786Croatia: 31,679 personsCroatia31,679Bulgaria: 30,796 personsBulgaria30,796Belgium: 28,445 personsBelgium28,445Sweden: 26,756 personsSweden26,756Austria: 22,771 personsAustria22,771Slovakia: 19,655 personsSlovakia19,655Greece: 17,380 personsGreece17,380Denmark: 14,268 personsDenmark14,268Finland: 13,424 personsFinland13,424Lithuania: 12,418 personsLithuania12,418Ireland: 11,696 personsIreland11,696Slovenia: 11,126 personsSlovenia11,126Latvia: 6,871 personsLatvia6,871Estonia: 3,619 personsEstonia3,619Malta: 2,114 personsMalta2,114Cyprus: 1,857 personsCyprus1,857Luxembourg: 1,600 personsLuxembourg1,600Germany: 315,362 personsGermany315,362France: 264,937 personsFrance264,937Italy: 234,818 personsItaly234,818Spain: 181,689 personsSpain181,689Poland: 151,377 personsPoland151,377Romania: 87,403 personsRomania87,403Czechia: 55,928 personsCzechia55,928Hungary: 45,468 personsHungary45,468Portugal: 40,359 personsPortugal40,359Netherlands: 31,786 personsNetherlands31,786Croatia: 31,679 personsCroatia31,679Bulgaria: 30,796 personsBulgaria30,796Belgium: 28,445 personsBelgium28,445Sweden: 26,756 personsSweden26,756Austria: 22,771 personsAustria22,771Slovakia: 19,655 personsSlovakia19,655Greece: 17,380 personsGreece17,380Denmark: 14,268 personsDenmark14,268Finland: 13,424 personsFinland13,424Lithuania: 12,418 personsLithuania12,418Ireland: 11,696 personsIreland11,696Slovenia: 11,126 personsSlovenia11,126Latvia: 6,871 personsLatvia6,871Estonia: 3,619 personsEstonia3,619Malta: 2,114 personsMalta2,114Cyprus: 1,857 personsCyprus1,857Luxembourg: 1,600 personsLuxembourg1,600
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2024
persons		Change on 2023
1Germany315,362+4%
2France264,937+18.9%
3Italy234,818+2.4%
4Spain181,689-0.1%
5Poland151,377+0.8%
6Romania87,403-0%
7Czechia55,928-1.4%
8Hungary45,468+4.5%
9Portugal40,359+2.4%
10Netherlands31,786+1%
11Croatia31,679+2.7%
12Bulgaria30,796-0%
13Belgium28,445+0.6%
14Sweden26,756+7.6%
15Austria22,771-4.4%
16Slovakia19,655+0.6%
17Greece17,380+5.1%
18Denmark14,268+5.1%
19Finland13,424+5.1%
20Lithuania12,418+1.4%
21Ireland11,696+4.1%
22Slovenia11,126+0.6%
23Latvia6,871+1.6%
24Estonia3,619-1.4%
25Malta2,114+5.3%
26Cyprus1,857-17.8%
27Luxembourg1,600-0.5%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of persons who work in enterprises of water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E): 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, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), 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, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act) (EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table

MLA 9

Structural business statistics, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 2024. 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-water-waste/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Structural business statistics, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 2024. 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-water-waste/eu-countries.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Structural business statistics, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act), EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sbs_ovw_act/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-water-waste/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2024,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Structural business statistics, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs\_ovw\_act): EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 2024}},
  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-water-waste/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), 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, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act): EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 2024
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-water-waste/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-water-waste/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), 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 water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation?

Germany, with 315,362 in 2024, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation?

Luxembourg, with 1,600 in 2024.

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, Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_ovw_act). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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