EU Businesses Generated €10.9 Trillion in 2024
Data for 2024 shows how 34 million enterprises across the European Union shaped employment and value production.
Updated on Sept. 30, 2026 in Economic Indicators
Live Poll
Is the economic dominance of large corporations a negative for small business conditions in your country?
In 2024, enterprises across the European Union produced a net turnover of over €38.7 trillion and added €10.9 trillion in value. These figures reflect the activity of 34.0 million individual businesses supporting a workforce of 164.5 million people.
Why it matters
Understanding the concentration of economic activity between small and large businesses provides context for how regional employment and national production targets are met. This structural data highlights the influence of various business sizes and sectors on the broader economy.
Large enterprises comprised only 0.2% of the 34.0 million total firms but generated 49% of the value added. Meanwhile, the services sector led activity by contributing 51% of the total value added during the 2024 period.
The players
Eurostat
The statistical office of the European Union that maintains records on regional economic output and business demographics.
The details
Enterprises are categorized based on their total number of employees, with micro and small firms accounting for 99% of all entities. While the vast majority of companies are small, the 0.2% of businesses classified as large maintain a significant economic footprint by employing 37% of the total business economy workforce.
Timeline
2024: EU enterprises recorded these employment and value-added figures.
Money Landscape
These results provide a definitive view of the EU business economy through the lens of the EU structural business statistics framework. The data serves as a historical benchmark for comparing how different business sizes contribute to regional production cycles.
These figures define the composition of the workforce and the major sectors driving the regional economy. Readers can use this data to understand which sectors and business types currently represent the primary drivers of employment and value creation.
The takeaway
Large firms contribute nearly half of the value added in the EU economy despite representing a tiny fraction of total businesses. Tracking these concentration ratios helps monitor the health and diversity of the regional business environment.
Further reading
Learn more about the latest figures in Economic Indicators.
More information
Access the comprehensive findings in the Eurostat structural business statistics dataset.
Live Poll
Is the economic dominance of large corporations a negative for small business conditions in your country?
