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Business in Ireland 2016

International Comparisons

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Some international comparisons of the key characteristics of the business economy are presented here. These comparisons are possible as structural business statistics are collected across the EU28. The reference year used for the EU data is 2015 as data for 2016 is incomplete for some countries. Irish data is the most recent data published by CSO and all remaining data is available on the Eurostat website.

Eurostat link: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database

Business Demography

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	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	2.03110418926076	23.6	16.7	51.2	6.54051804585235
Bulgaria	1.37650240384615	41.5	6.01442307692308	40.8	10.3
Czech Republic	2.7	23.7	16.9	38.1	18.6
Denmark	3.35122748985946	18.9852072919458	14.4124957266537	54.3163107854642	8.93475870607693
Germany	2.23631314485837	22.9	13.8	49.5	11.6
Estonia	1.16312303505524	23.9	12.8	51.4	10.7278217538802
Ireland	2.8	18.7	20.3	51.2	6.9
Greece	2.2	31.7	8.9	48.2	9
Spain	2.8	28.4	15.1	46.7	7
France	1.96139300079013	25.4	17.8	46.5	8.4
Croatia	0.684082144365861	25.6	12	47.1	14.6
Italy	2.4	29.6	13.6	43.4	11
Cyprus	4.27336906009611	32.2074788902292	14.4970238683779	38.4702090213372	10.5519191599597
Latvia	1.7	25.9	10	51.8	10.6
Lithuania	0.4	33	15.8	39.2	11.6
Luxembourg	5.22626896242719	23.5	11.2750432055303	57.1	3
Hungary	3.9	24.8	10.8	50.9	9.62575039554992
Netherlands	2.7	22.2	14.3880156275859	54.7	6.00064712040717
Austria	2.8	23.5	9.6	55.2	8.9
Poland	3.4	30.8	15.1	37.9	12.8075268976482
Portugal	1.9	27.1	9.5	52.8	8.6
Romania	1.4	38.9	9.4	39.6	10.7
Slovenia	1.44792561009328	19.3	14.1	50.1	15.2
Slovakia	1.8	25.4	19.5	37.6	15.6
Finland	2.2	20	16.9634591297718	50.4	10.4
Sweden	2.1	18.8	14.4	56.5	8.2
United Kingdom	1.9	17.7	14.4	59	7.1

In 2015, Ireland's largest sector for active enterprises was the Services sector accounting for 51.2% of all enterprises. This was higher than the EU average of 47.4% but lower than the United Kingdom where the Services sector accounted for 59% of all enterprises
Ireland had the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU for Construction, 20.3% of enterprises
The EU average for share of total enterprises for Construction was 14.4%. Bulgaria experienced the smallest percentage share in Construction at 6%

	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	4.3	22.1	10.4	44.1	19.1
Bulgaria	3.1	25.4	7.5	32	32
Czech Republic	2.9	19.2	10	30.4	37.4
Denmark	4.5	24	10	39	22.5
Germany	3.8	20.7	7.6	38.9	28.9
Estonia	2.3	21.6	10.2	38.2	27.7
Ireland	7	24.7	7.7	44.8	15.8
Greece	3.8	28.5	6.7	46.3	14.8
Spain	3.2	26.4	10.2	43.3	16.9
France	5	22.6	11.9	40.3	20.1
Croatia	3.8	22.1	9.7	34.4	29.9
Italy	3.9	22.4	9	38.2	26.6
Cyprus	8.3	26.9	8.3	43	13.5
Latvia	2.8	24.9	10.5	40.1	21.8
Lithuania	1.8	26.7	11.5	35.1	24.9
Luxembourg	13.1	16.9	14.2	43.7	12
Hungary	3.2	21	7.6	38.8	29.4
Netherlands	4.2	25.9	7.6	49.1	13.2
Austria	4.2	22.7	9.9	40.2	22.9
Poland	4	24.9	9.9	29	32.1
Portugal	3	23.8	9.6	40.3	23.2
Romania	2.2	23.8	9.3	31.3	33.4
Slovenia	3.5	18.2	10.5	32.9	34.9
Slovakia	2.6	22	9.8	32.9	32.7
Finland	3	19.5	12.7	41.1	23.7
Sweden	3	20.6	12	44	20.3
United Kingdom	4.9	23.9	7	50.3	13.9

Industry accounted for 15.8% of the total number of persons employed in Ireland in 2015. There were only five countries with a lower percentage: Luxembourg (12%), the Netherlands (13.2%), Cyprus (13.5%) and the United Kingdom and Greece with 13.9% and 14.8% respectively
Ireland's largest sector for employment was Services at 44.8%. Only three countries had a higher percentage of persons employed in this sector - the United Kingdom (50.3%), the Netherlands (49.1%) and Greece (46.3%)
Ireland was among the seven countries which had the lowest percentage share of persons employed in Construction in the EU (7.7%); Greece had the lowest percentage share of persons employed in Construction in the EU (6.7%)

Business Operations

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The structural business surveys are used to compile international comparisons for Turnover, Gross Value Added (GVA), productivity and profitability. See Tables 9.3 to 9.6.

The sectoral breakdown is somewhat different in these tables compared to the Business Demography data presented in Tables 9.1 and 9.2. Industry has been replaced by Manufacturing for confidentiality reasons and it is not possible to include the Financial and Insurance Activities sector.

	Services (ex. Finance)	Distribution	Construction	Manufacturing
Ireland	34.4	11	3.3	51.3
Germany	38.8	19.2	6.3	35.7
Italy	38.4	20	7.6	33.9896608674577
Spain	44.7	23.4	8.1	23.9
France	46.9	19.8	9.5	23.9
United Kingdom	55.4	18.5	9.4	16.7

The Manufacturing sector in Ireland accounted for the highest share of total GVA at 51.3%
The Construction sector in Ireland had the lowest share of total GVA at 3.3%
The Services sector accounted for 34.4% of total GVA in Ireland in 2015, while the United Kingdom recorded the highest percentage of total GVA for the Services sector (55.4%)

	GVA per person employed
Ireland (all enterprises)	135600
Luxembourg	87500
Denmark	77500
Belgium	71000
United Kingdom	70700
Sweden	69800
Austria	62700
France	61300
Ireland (indigenous)	59700
Finland	59600
Netherlands	58200
Germany	54100
Italy	45200
Spain	39300
Cyprus	32100
Slovenia	31900
Estonia	24400
Czech Republic	23900
Portugal	22700
Slovakia	21400
Hungary	21000
Greece	20300
Poland	20000
Croatia	19900
Lithuania	16400
Latvia	15800
Romania	12900
Bulgaria	11200

Ireland recorded the highest figure in the EU28 for GVA per person employed in 2015 at €135,600, over 35% higher than the next hightest, Luxembourg, who reported €87,500 GVA per person employed
If Foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from the Irish data the GVA per person employed would fall to more than €59,700, a level similar to France and Finland

	Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover
Ireland (all enterprises)	19.5
United Kingdom	16.2
Croatia	11.4
Cyprus	11.2
Denmark	11
Italy	10.5
Czech Republic	10.4
Hungary	10.3
Austria	10.1
Netherlands	10
Poland	9.9
Slovenia	9.7
Germany	9.6
Lithuania	9.6
Bulgaria	9.5
Spain	9.3
Slovakia	9.1
Belgium	9
Sweden	9
Greece	8.9
Romania	8.9
Portugal	8.8
Latvia	8.8
Ireland (indigenous)	8.7
Estonia	8.2
Finland	8
France	6.4
Luxembourg	6.4

Gross Operating Surplus as a percentage of Turnover in Ireland was 19.5% in 2015, the highest profitability rate in the EU28
If Foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from Irish data the Gross Operating Surplus figure would fall to 8.7%

9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in selected EU countries, 2015

9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in selected EU countries, 2015

9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2015

9.4 Share of value added across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2015

9.5 Gross value added per person employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2015

9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU28 countries, 2015

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Table 9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2015
	Total Turnover	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	25,358.7	28.9	6.5	39.3	25.3	100.0
Belgium	941.5	24.7	6.9	46.6	21.7	100.0
Bulgaria	110.8	26.3	8.4	48.1	17.2	100.0
Czech Republic	395.1	39.7	6.9	34.8	18.5	100.0
Denmark	447.8	24.1	6.9	38.4	30.5	100.0
Germany	5,450.9	37.6	4.4	35.9	22.0	100.0
Estonia	48.2	24.1	8.2	44.3	23.4	100.0
Ireland	583.6	38.3	2.6	25.4	33.8	100.0
Greece	214.0	25.0	4.8	47.7	22.4	100.0
Spain	1,671.6	27.9	6.5	40.8	24.8	100.0
France	3,464.6	24.9	7.9	40.7	26.4	100.0
Croatia	69.4	25.7	7.8	42.6	24.0	100.0
Italy	2,605.2	34.0	6.2	38.0	21.8	100.0
Cyprus	24.6	11.6	7.7	44.4	36.2	100.0
Latvia	48.6	15.5	8.2	52.3	24.0	100.0
Lithuania	70.7	26.0	6.9	45.0	22.1	100.0
Luxembourg	146.3	9.1	4.7	56.3	30.0	100.0
Hungary	257.8	40.9	5.4	32.8	20.9	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	1,337.6	24.6	6.2	44.4	24.8	100.0
Austria	609.6	29.2	7.4	38.9	24.6	100.0
Poland	851.8	34.0	7.2	41.2	17.5	100.0
Portugal	288.7	28.4	6.2	42.9	22.5	100.0
Romania	241.4	30.4	7.5	43.6	18.6	100.0
Slovenia	76.1	33.6	6.0	39.3	21.1	100.0
Slovakia	167.4	42.6	6.1	31.3	20.0	100.0
Finland	349.0	35.6	8.7	32.7	23.0	100.0
Sweden	772.1	25.5	8.9	35.0	30.6	100.0
United Kingdom	4,099.0	17.2	8.0	41.7	33.2	100.0
Source: Eurostat - Business Survey Data
¹ Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).
: Data not available.

Table 9.4 Share of value added across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2015
	Gross value added	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	6,678.5	28.4	8.0	19.7	43.9	100.0
Belgium	193.0	26.4	8.5	21.7	43.4	100.0
Bulgaria	20.4	30.4	8.3	24.6	36.7	100.0
Czech Republic	82.7	43.3	7.6	17.2	31.9	100.0
Denmark	126.4	25.7	8.2	20.9	45.2	100.0
Germany	1,498.3	35.7	6.3	19.2	38.8	100.0
Estonia	9.8	27.6	9.0	20.8	42.6	100.0
Ireland	174.0	51.3	3.3	11.0	34.4	100.0
Greece	42.7	25.5	6.3	24.2	44.0	100.0
Spain	426.1	23.9	8.1	23.4	44.7	100.0
France	871.2	23.9	9.5	19.8	46.9	100.0
Croatia	18.6	26.5	9.2	22.4	41.9	100.0
Italy	626.8	34.0	7.6	20.0	38.4	100.0
Cyprus	6.8	13.1	7.3	23.7	55.9	100.0
Latvia	9.6	21.6	8.9	24.4	45.1	100.0
Lithuania	14.8	27.3	9.2	25.7	37.8	100.0
Luxembourg	22.1	11.8	11.0	21.0	56.3	100.0
Hungary	52.6	41.7	5.8	17.4	35.1	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	312.7	20.2	8.1	24.2	47.6	100.0
Austria	168.2	30.7	9.5	20.4	39.5	100.0
Poland	163.7	37.8	7.8	22.2	32.2	100.0
Portugal	67.0	28.7	7.9	23.1	40.3	100.0
Romania	47.5	32.3	7.8	23.7	36.2	100.0
Slovenia	18.1	39.5	7.0	20.0	33.5	100.0
Slovakia	31.1	41.1	6.6	18.2	34.2	100.0
Finland	84.8	29.7	11.3	17.4	41.6	100.0
Sweden	211.5	25.2	10.1	19.1	45.6	100.0
United Kingdom	1,328.0	16.7	9.4	18.5	55.4	100.0
Source: Eurostat - Business Survey Data
¹ Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).
: Data not available.

Table 9.5 Gross value added per person employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2015
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's
European Union (EU28)	63.4	43.4	39.9	50.1	49.9
Belgium	103.5	52.5	66.4	65.4	71.0
Bulgaria	11.4	11.5	10.1	11.9	11.2
Czech Republic	28.3	16.9	20.1	23.6	23.9
Denmark	89.3	58.6	62.7	85.3	77.5
Germany	73.6	42.7	45.0	49.2	54.1
Estonia	24.6	19.8	22.3	26.7	24.4
Ireland	445.9	53.3	55.5	95.1	135.6
Greece	36.6	20.4	16.1	18.1	20.3
Spain	57.6	32.4	33.7	37.6	39.3
France	71.7	53.9	52.0	63.2	61.3
Croatia	19.2	17.1	18.4	22.1	19.9
Italy	58.8	35.8	38.0	42.8	45.2
Cyprus	31.4	25.7	25.8	37.4	32.1
Latvia	17.4	12.6	14.5	16.7	15.8
Lithuania	19.1	12.8	14.9	16.9	16.4
Luxembourg	78.1	57.0	92.4	98.2	87.5
Hungary	30.6	15.0	16.2	18.0	21.0
Malta	:	30.1	33.3	42.5	:
Netherlands	93.1	58.4	51.3	53.3	58.2
Austria	82.6	55.2	52.4	59.5	62.7
Poland	24.8	15.1	16.2	20.1	20.0
Portugal	28.7	17.7	21.1	21.7	22.7
Romania	12.8	9.9	12.8	14.0	12.9
Slovenia	37.3	20.6	32.1	30.1	31.9
Slovakia	27.3	13.5	16.9	21.2	21.4
Finland	74.0	51.1	50.2	58.6	59.6
Sweden	90.1	56.4	61.6	68.7	69.8
United Kingdom	89.0	91.7	49.9	73.6	70.7
Source: Eurostat - Business Survey Data
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).
: Data not available.

Business in Ireland 2016

International Comparisons

International Comparisons

Business Demography

Business Operations

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Table 9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in selected EU countries, 2015
	Total active enterprises	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	All sectors
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	26,545	9.8	14.4	26.0	47.4	2.3	100.0
Belgium	642	6.5	16.7	23.6	51.2	2.0	100.0
Bulgaria	339	10.3	6.0	41.5	40.8	1.4	100.0
Czech Republic	1,026	18.6	16.9	23.7	38.1	2.7	100.0
Denmark	216	8.9	14.4	19.0	54.3	3.4	100.0
Germany	2,796	11.6	13.8	22.9	49.5	2.2	100.0
Estonia	83	10.7	12.8	23.9	51.4	1.2	100.0
Ireland	249	6.9	20.3	18.7	51.2	2.8	100.0
Greece	777	9.0	8.9	31.7	48.2	2.2	100.0
Spain	2,971	7.0	15.1	28.4	46.7	2.8	100.0
France	3,492	8.4	17.8	25.4	46.5	2.0	100.0
Croatia	146	14.6	12.0	25.6	47.1	0.7	100.0
Italy	3,820	11.0	13.6	29.6	43.4	2.4	100.0
Cyprus	51	10.6	14.5	32.2	38.5	4.3	100.0
Latvia	110	10.6	10.0	25.9	51.8	1.7	100.0
Lithuania	186	11.6	15.8	33.0	39.2	0.4	100.0
Luxembourg	32	3.0	11.3	23.5	57.1	5.2	100.0
Hungary	531	9.6	10.8	24.8	50.9	3.9	100.0
Netherlands	1,113	6.0	14.4	22.2	54.7	2.7	100.0
Austria	409	8.9	9.6	23.5	55.2	2.8	100.0
Poland	2,060	12.8	15.1	30.8	37.9	3.4	100.0
Portugal	818	8.6	9.5	27.1	52.8	1.9	100.0
Romania	695	10.7	9.4	38.9	39.6	1.4	100.0
Slovenia	141	15.2	14.1	19.3	50.1	1.4	100.0
Slovakia	446	15.6	19.5	25.4	37.6	1.8	100.0
Finland	291	10.4	17.0	20.0	50.4	2.2	100.0
Sweden	740	8.2	14.4	18.8	56.5	2.1	100.0
United Kingdom	2,326	7.1	14.4	17.7	59.0	1.9	100.0
Source: Eurostat - Business Demography Data

Table 9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in selected EU countries, 2015
	Total persons employed	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	All sectors
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	144,617	23.4	9.0	23.0	40.6	4.0	100.0
Belgium	2,824	19.1	10.4	22.1	44.1	4.3	100.0
Bulgaria	1,994	32.0	7.5	25.4	32.0	3.1	100.0
Czech Republic	3,702	37.4	10.0	19.2	30.4	2.9	100.0
Denmark	1,755	22.5	10.0	24.0	39.0	4.5	100.0
Germany	28,072	28.9	7.6	20.7	38.9	3.8	100.0
Estonia	455	27.7	10.2	21.6	38.2	2.3	100.0
Ireland	1,403	15.8	7.7	24.7	44.8	7.0	100.0
Greece	2,553	14.8	6.7	28.5	46.3	3.8	100.0
Spain	11,712	16.9	10.2	26.4	43.3	3.2	100.0
France	16,056	20.1	11.9	22.6	40.3	5.0	100.0
Croatia	1,025	29.9	9.7	22.1	34.4	3.8	100.0
Italy	14,806	26.6	9.0	22.4	38.2	3.9	100.0
Cyprus	234	13.5	8.3	26.9	43.0	8.3	100.0
Latvia	652	21.8	10.5	24.9	40.1	2.8	100.0
Lithuania	1,008	24.9	11.5	26.7	35.1	1.8	100.0
Luxembourg	316	12.0	14.2	16.9	43.7	13.1	100.0
Hungary	2,696	29.4	7.6	21.0	38.8	3.2	100.0
Netherlands	5,684	13.2	7.6	25.9	49.1	4.2	100.0
Austria	3,005	22.9	9.9	22.7	40.2	4.2	100.0
Poland	9,645	32.1	9.9	24.9	29.0	4.0	100.0
Portugal	3,093	23.2	9.6	23.8	40.3	3.0	100.0
Romania	4,159	33.4	9.3	23.8	31.3	2.2	100.0
Slovenia	614	34.9	10.5	18.2	32.9	3.5	100.0
Slovakia	1,562	32.7	9.8	22.0	32.9	2.6	100.0
Finland	1,592	23.7	12.7	19.5	41.1	3.0	100.0
Sweden	3,114	20.3	12.0	20.6	44.0	3.0	100.0
United Kingdom	20,466	13.9	7.0	23.9	50.3	4.9	100.0
Source: Eurostat - Business Demography Data

Table 9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU28 countries, 2015
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	9.8	11.8	5.1	19.6	10.6
Belgium	9.3	9.9	3.9	19.3	9.0
Bulgaria	11.1	9.7	5.2	18.7	9.5
Czech Republic	11.4	11.6	4.9	18.0	10.4
Denmark	12.8	8.2	5.2	17.5	11.0
Germany	7.0	11.4	5.3	20.5	9.6
Estonia	8.1	5.5	3.7	17.6	8.2
Ireland	35.4	13.1	6.0	12.3	19.5
Greece	12.1	16.2	3.1	16.1	8.9
Spain	8.5	9.1	5.3	16.9	9.3
France	6.2	4.8	2.9	12.6	6.4
Croatia	10.7	13.9	5.9	21.3	11.4
Italy	9.1	12.2	6.0	20.0	10.5
Cyprus	12.3	9.6	4.5	19.5	11.2
Latvia	12.8	7.4	4.0	17.2	8.8
Lithuania	10.5	9.2	5.6	16.8	9.6
Luxembourg	5.2	8.3	2.9	13.1	6.4
Hungary	11.8	11.3	5.0	15.2	10.3
Malta	:	18.1	8.9	25.6	:
Netherlands	8.0	10.4	5.7	19.7	10.0
Austria	9.9	9.0	5.0	18.7	10.1
Poland	11.2	10.1	5.3	18.1	9.9
Portugal	9.8	6.6	4.4	16.5	8.8
Romania	8.6	8.5	5.6	17.5	8.9
Slovenia	11.0	8.7	5.0	16.7	9.7
Slovakia	8.8	11.1	4.8	15.8	9.1
Finland	5.9	9.0	4.0	16.6	8.0
Sweden	9.9	6.9	4.4	14.2	9.0
United Kingdom	15.5	22.4	6.5	27.2	16.2
Source: Eurostat - Business Survey Data
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).
: Data not available.