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

Germany had the highest persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation of 26 EU countries in 2016, at 237,123. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 1,278. The median was 22,109 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 1.38 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest237,123Germany
Lowest1,278Luxembourg
Median22,10926 EU countries
European Union (27)1,380,000History

Map of EU countries, 2016

Austria: 21,025 personsBelgium: 22,107 personsBulgaria: 33,418 personsCyprus: 1,673 personsCzechia: 53,784 personsGermany: 237,123 personsDenmark: 11,656 personsEstonia: 3,401 personsSpain: 166,460 personsFinland: 9,465 personsFrance: 166,973 personsGreece: 16,076 personsCroatia: 23,741 personsHungary: 47,821 personsIreland: 8,971 personsItaly: 195,138 personsLithuania: 13,240 personsLuxembourg: 1,278 personsLatvia: 7,892 personsNetherlands: 33,367 personsPoland: 135,238 personsPortugal: 31,782 personsRomania: 84,696 personsSweden: 22,110 personsSlovenia: 9,554 personsSlovakia: 20,697 persons
  • Under 9,000
  • 9,000 to 21K
  • 21K to 32K
  • 32K to 85K
  • 85K and over
  • No data
persons, 2016. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2016

Germany: 237,123 personsGermany237,123Italy: 195,138 personsItaly195,138France: 166,973 personsFrance166,973Spain: 166,460 personsSpain166,460Poland: 135,238 personsPoland135,238Romania: 84,696 personsRomania84,696Czechia: 53,784 personsCzechia53,784Hungary: 47,821 personsHungary47,821Bulgaria: 33,418 personsBulgaria33,418Netherlands: 33,367 personsNetherlands33,367Portugal: 31,782 personsPortugal31,782Croatia: 23,741 personsCroatia23,741Sweden: 22,110 personsSweden22,110Belgium: 22,107 personsBelgium22,107Austria: 21,025 personsAustria21,025Slovakia: 20,697 personsSlovakia20,697Greece: 16,076 personsGreece16,076Lithuania: 13,240 personsLithuania13,240Denmark: 11,656 personsDenmark11,656Slovenia: 9,554 personsSlovenia9,554Finland: 9,465 personsFinland9,465Ireland: 8,971 personsIreland8,971Latvia: 7,892 personsLatvia7,892Estonia: 3,401 personsEstonia3,401Cyprus: 1,673 personsCyprus1,673Luxembourg: 1,278 personsLuxembourg1,278Germany: 237,123 personsGermany237,123Italy: 195,138 personsItaly195,138France: 166,973 personsFrance166,973Spain: 166,460 personsSpain166,460Poland: 135,238 personsPoland135,238Romania: 84,696 personsRomania84,696Czechia: 53,784 personsCzechia53,784Hungary: 47,821 personsHungary47,821Bulgaria: 33,418 personsBulgaria33,418Netherlands: 33,367 personsNetherlands33,367Portugal: 31,782 personsPortugal31,782Croatia: 23,741 personsCroatia23,741Sweden: 22,110 personsSweden22,110Belgium: 22,107 personsBelgium22,107Austria: 21,025 personsAustria21,025Slovakia: 20,697 personsSlovakia20,697Greece: 16,076 personsGreece16,076Lithuania: 13,240 personsLithuania13,240Denmark: 11,656 personsDenmark11,656Slovenia: 9,554 personsSlovenia9,554Finland: 9,465 personsFinland9,465Ireland: 8,971 personsIreland8,971Latvia: 7,892 personsLatvia7,892Estonia: 3,401 personsEstonia3,401Cyprus: 1,673 personsCyprus1,673Luxembourg: 1,278 personsLuxembourg1,278
persons. Source: Eurostat, Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2016
persons		Change on 2015
1Germany237,123+2.9%
2Italy195,138+4.4%
3France Series break166,973+1.3%
4Spain166,460+6.1%
5Poland135,238+2.8%
6Romania84,696+0.5%
7Czechia53,784+1.6%
8Hungary47,821+2.2%
9Bulgaria33,418+0.8%
10Netherlands33,367+1.3%
11Portugal31,782+6.4%
12Croatia23,741+1.6%
13Sweden22,110+0.3%
14Belgium22,107-6.1%
15Austria21,025+3.4%
16Slovakia20,697+0.8%
17Greece16,076-2.6%
18Lithuania13,240+0.8%
19Denmark Series break11,656-9.5%
20Slovenia9,554-3.1%
21Finland9,465+7.2%
22Ireland8,971+2.6%
23Latvia7,892+4.9%
24Estonia3,401+3.4%
25Cyprus1,673+1.8%
26Luxembourg1,278+2.4%

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. 1 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2016 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), 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

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APA 7

Eurostat, European Commission. (2024). Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2) (EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 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), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 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-water-waste/eu-countries?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2024. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 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-water-waste/eu-countries?period=2016.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2024) Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2), EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 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-water-waste/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), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs\_na\_sca\_r2): EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 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-water-waste/eu-countries?period=2016. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), 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), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2): EU countries by persons employed in water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation, 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-water-waste/eu-countries?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-water-waste/eu-countries?period=2016.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Structural business statistics (2005 to 2020), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), 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  -
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Questions

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

Germany, with 237,123 in 2016, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Luxembourg, with 1,278 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), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation (NACE Rev. 2 section E), persons employed, number (sbs_na_sca_r2). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 EU countries have no value for 2016 and are not ranked.

EU countries: more rankings