EU businesses: €10.9 trillion in value added in 2024

Brussels – In 2024, around 34 million businesses employed 164.5 million people, generating a net turnover of over €38.7 trillion and €10.9 trillion euros in value added – the difference between the value of the production of goods and services and the costs incurred by individual production units for the purchase of the necessary production inputs from other companies. These figures are from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union. 

Companies with more than 249 employees accounted for just 0.2 per cent of the total number of enterprises, employing over a third of the private sector workforce (37 per cent) and generating around half (49 per cent) of the total EU value added. Medium-sized enterprises – with between 50 and 249 employees – accounted for 0.8 per cent of the total, employing 15 per cent of the workforce and generating 16 per cent of value added. The remaining 99 per cent, comprising micro and small enterprises – with 0 to 49 employees – employed around half of all workers in the EU’s business sector (48 per cent) and generated 35 per cent of total EU value added.

The services sector led the way, accounting for 51 per cent of the EU’s value added. In particular, 64 per cent of businesses employed more than half (53 per cent) of the EU’s workforce. The industrial sector came second, accounting for 28 per cent of value added and employing 20 per cent of the EU workforce. Next came the trade sector, which accounted for only 17 per cent of businesses and 18 per cent of employees, yet generated 15 per cent of value added. Finally, the construction sector. This sector accounted for 12 per cent of the total number of enterprises, generating just 7 per cent of value added and employing only 8 per cent of the workforce.