Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The number of multinational enterprise groups operating in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries reached 151,004, employing 49 million people, according to 2023 figures.
In the European Union, multinational enterprise groups employed 29.3% of workers in the business sector, including industry, construction, and services.
This information comes from data on multinational enterprise groups operating in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union in Brussels, based on the Eurogroup Register (EGR).
In 2023, 63.7% of multinational enterprise groups operating in the European Union or an EFTA country were controlled by an EU country, while 9.5% were controlled by an EFTA country. Together, these companies employed 82.9% of the total workforce in multinational enterprise groups in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association.
The remaining 26.8%, which employed 17.1% of the workforce in these groups, were controlled by countries outside the EU and EFTA.
Germany controls the majority of MNE groups in the EU and EFTA.
Of the MNE groups controlled by EU or EFTA countries, 15,484 were German-based (representing 10.3% of the total MNE groups operating in the EU and EFTA), 13,372 were Dutch-based (8.9%), and 10,897 were Swiss-based (7.2%).
When considering countries outside the EU and EFTA, most MNE groups in the EU and EFTA were controlled by the United Kingdom (13,959 MNEs), the United States (8,288), and China (2,621).