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 2018, at 288,317. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 1,305. The median was 23,416 and the figure for the European Union (27) was 1.51 million. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest288,317Germany

Lowest1,305Luxembourg

Median23,41626 EU countries

European Union (27)1,510,000History

Map of EU countries, 2018

Under 10K
10K to 22K
22K to 33K
33K to 86K
86K and over
No data

persons, 2018. 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, 2018

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

Rank	EU countries	2018 persons	Change on 2017
1	Germany Series break	288,317	+17.4%
2	Italy	203,888	+3.5%
3	France	203,778	+4.3%
4	Spain Series break	172,072	+3.3%
5	Poland Series break	144,298	+4.1%
6	Romania Series break	86,418	+0.8%
7	Czechia	55,575	+2.9%
8	Hungary Series break	46,883	+1.1%
9	Netherlands	35,812	+4.2%
10	Portugal	33,522	+3.4%
11	Bulgaria Series break	32,793	+0.2%
12	Croatia	29,794	+21.9%
13	Belgium Series break	24,723	-0.3%
14	Sweden Series break	22,108	-7%
15	Austria Series break	21,746	+1.8%
16	Slovakia	21,668	+0.8%
17	Greece Series break	17,259	+18.1%
18	Lithuania Series break	13,278	+0.8%
19	Denmark	11,370	-0.3%
20	Ireland	10,049	+6.2%
21	Slovenia	9,901	+2.7%
22	Finland	9,698	-0.8%
23	Latvia	7,872	+0.3%
24	Estonia Series break	3,560	+3.5%
25	Cyprus	1,840	+8.4%
26	Luxembourg	1,305	+2.1%

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 2018 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

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), 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, 2018) [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, 2018. 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=2018. 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, 2018. 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=2018.

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, 2018 [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=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_persons_2018,
  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, 2018}},
  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=2018. 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, 2018
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=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/persons-employed-water-waste/eu-countries?period=2018.
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 288,317 in 2018, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

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

Luxembourg, with 1,305 in 2018.

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 2018 and are not ranked.