Around 34 million EU businesses, employing 164.5 million people, generated a net turnover of over €38.7 trillion in 2024, leading to €10.9 trillion in value added, Eurostat reports.
The figures from the EU’s statistics agency show that large enterprises (with more than 249 people employed) represented only 0.2% of the total number of enterprises in the EU’s business economy. However, they employed more than a third of the business economy workforce (37%) and generated around half (49%) of the total value added.
Medium-sized enterprises (50-249 people employed) made up a small share of total enterprises (0.8%), employed 15% of the workforce, and generated 16% of value added. The majority, 99%, of the enterprises were micro and small enterprises (0-49 people employed). Together, these enterprises employed almost half of all people employed in the EU’s business economy (48%) and generated 35% of its total value added.
This information comes from final data on structural business statistics (SBS) for 2024, just published by Eurostat.
The services sector generated half (51%) of the total value added of the EU’s business economy in 2024, the highest share among the 4 main sectors (industry, trade, services and construction). With 64% of all enterprises, it employed more than half of the workforce (53%).
The industry sector accounted for 28% of value added, with only 7% of total enterprises, and around one-fifth of total employment (20%).
Trade represented 15% of value added but accounted for 17% of the enterprises and employed 18% of the people.
Construction enterprises represented 12% of the total number of enterprises but produced only 7% of the total value added. This sector accounted for 8% of employment in the EU’s business economy.
