How many people work in small enterprises?
In the EU in 2015, a total of 23.5 million non-financial enterprises existed, 98.7 % of which were small (0-49 employed persons), 1.0 % were medium (50-249 employed persons) and only 0.2 % were large (250 employed persons and over).
Among small enterprises, the ones that had less than 10 persons employed accounted for 93 % of the total number of enterprises. Among the Member States, the share of small, medium and large enterprises were largely identical in 2015.
…but they generate 33 % of employment and 44 % of total value added
However, when looking at the number of persons employed in the EU, small enterprises provided work for about half the workforce in 2015, while 17 % were employed in medium-sized enterprises and a third in large. Regarding value added, 38 % of value added came from small enterprises, 19 % from medium sized and 44 % from large enterprises.
Source: eurostat – How many people work in small enterprises?