You are here: Home / Statistics / Business In Ireland 2017 / International Comparisons

Business In Ireland 2017

International Comparisons

Open in Excel:

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 2016 as data for 2017 is incomplete for some countries. Irish data used in this chapter is for 2016 for comparison purposes, data is available on the Eurostat website.

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

Business Demography

Open in Excel:

	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	2	23.1	16.8	51.8	6.3
Bulgaria	1.4	41.1	5.9	41.4	10.1
Czech Republic	2.6	23.2	16.9	38.7	18.6
Denmark	3.5	18.6	14.2	55	8.7
Germany	2.3	22.5	13.8	49.9	11.5
Estonia	1.1	23.6	13.1	51.7	10.5
Ireland	2.8	18.7	20.3	51.2	6.9
Greece	2.3	31.7	8.7	48.4	9
Spain	2.8	27.9	15.1	47.1	7.1
France	2	25	17.5	47.2	8.3
Croatia	0.8	24.9	12	48	14.4
Italy	2.4	29.3	13.4	44	10.8
Cyprus	4.6	31.4	14	39.9	10.2
Latvia	1.9	24.9	10.1	52.6	10.5
Lithuania	2.5	30.6	16	39.7	11.2
Luxembourg	5.2	22.9	11.5	57.6	2.9
Hungary	2.9	24.3	11.3	51.9	9.5
Netherlands	2.6	21.7	14.5	55.3	5.9
Austria	2.8	23.5	9.6	55.3	8.8
Poland	3.3	29.2	15.6	39.2	12.6
Portugal	1.8	26.1	9.3	54	8.7
Romania	1.6	38.2	9.7	39.9	10.6
Slovenia	1.4	18.8	13.6	51.2	15.1
Slovakia	1.9	25	19.5	38.1	15.5
Finland	2.2	19.8	17	50.7	10.4
Sweden	2.1	18.4	14.4	56.8	8.3
United Kingdom	1.8	17	14.5	59.8	6.8

In 2016, Ireland's largest sector for active enterprises was the Services sector accounting for 51.1% of all enterprises. This was higher than the EU average of 48.2% but lower than the United Kingdom where the Services sector accounted for 59.8% of all enterprises
Ireland had the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU for Construction, 20.6% of enterprises
The EU average for share of total enterprises for Construction was 14.4%. Bulgaria experienced the smallest percentage share in Construction at 5.9%

	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	4.3	21.8	10.4	44.8	18.8
Bulgaria	3	25.3	7.1	33.1	31.5
Czech Republic	3	19.6	10	29.9	37.5
Denmark	4.5	25.5	9.5	42	18.6
Germany	3.7	20.5	7.6	39.4	28.6
Estonia	2.2	21.7	10.2	38.5	27.4
Ireland	6.7	24.1	8.1	45.1	15.9
Greece	3.4	28.6	6.4	46.9	14.8
Spain	3.1	25.6	10.1	43.9	17.4
France	5	22.5	11.9	41	19.6
Croatia	3.9	22.1	9.6	34.8	29.7
Italy	3.8	22.4	8.8	38.7	26.4
Cyprus	8.1	26.2	8.6	43.6	13.6
Latvia	2.9	24.5	9.8	41.3	21.5
Lithuania	2.2	26.1	11.1	36	24.5
Luxembourg	13	16.6	14.2	44.4	11.8
Hungary	2.8	20.7	7.7	39.7	29.2
Netherlands	3.9	25.6	7.5	50	13
Austria	4.1	22.7	9.9	40.3	23
Poland	3.7	24.4	9.9	29.9	32.1
Portugal	2.9	23.4	9.4	41.2	23.1
Romania	2.3	24.2	9.1	31.7	32.6
Slovenia	3.4	18.1	10.1	33.5	34.9
Slovakia	2.6	21.6	9.6	33.3	32.9
Finland	3	19.2	13.1	41.8	22.8
Sweden	3	20.4	12.2	44.8	19.6
United Kingdom	4.8	23.5	7	50.9	13.7

Industry accounted for 15.9% of the total number of persons employed in Ireland in 2016. There were only five countries with a lower percentage: Luxembourg (11.8%), the Netherlands (13.0%), Cyprus (13.6%), the United Kingdom (13.7%) and Greece (14.8%)
Ireland's largest sector for employment was Services at 45.1%. Only three countries had a higher percentage of persons employed in this sector - the United Kingdom (50.9%), the Netherlands (50.0%) and Greece (46.9%)

Business Operations

Open in Excel:

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 EU28 comparison purposes and it is not possible to include the Financial and Insurance Activities sector.

	Services (ex. Finance)	Distribution	Construction	Manufacturing
Ireland	36.5	12.2	3.8	47.5
Germany	38.6	19.1	6.4	35.9
Italy	38.3	20.2	7.3	34.2
Spain	44.3	23.5	8.4	23.8
France	47	19.9	9.3	23.8
United Kingdom	56.1	18.5	9.1	16.4

The Manufacturing sector in Ireland accounted for the highest share of total GVA at 47.5%
The Construction sector in Ireland had the lowest share of total GVA at 3.8%
The Services sector accounted for 36.5% of total GVA in Ireland in 2016, while the United Kingdom recorded the highest percentage of total GVA for the Services sector (56.1%)

	GVA per person employed
Ireland (all enterprises)	134300
Luxembourg	86300
Denmark	79100
Belgium	73400
Sweden	69200
Austria	65200
Ireland (indigenous)	64900
United Kingdom	63700
Finland	63100
Netherlands	59900
France	59100
Germany	55700
Italy	46400
Spain	38700
Slovenia	33200
Cyprus	32800
Estonia	25800
Czech Republic	24400
Portugal	23300
Slovakia	21900
Croatia	21100
Hungary	20600
Poland	20000
Greece	17300
Lithuania	17100
Latvia	16400
Romania	14400
Bulgaria	11800

Ireland recorded the highest figure in the EU28 for GVA per person employed in 2016 at €134,300, over 35% higher than the next highest, Luxembourg, who reported €86,300 GVA per person employed
If Foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from the Irish data the GVA per person employed would fall to €64,900, a level similar to Austria and the United Kingdom

	Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover
Ireland (all enterprises)	20.2
United Kingdom	16.4
Cyprus	11.7
Croatia	11.4
Denmark	11.3
Italy	11.3
Ireland (indigenous)	11.2
Austria	10.8
Netherlands	10.6
Poland	10.4
Czech Republic	10.3
Germany	10.3
Bulgaria	10.1
Slovenia	10
Romania	9.9
Hungary	9.7
Belgium	9.5
Spain	9.5
Lithuania	9.5
Portugal	9.4
Sweden	9.4
Finland	9
Latvia	8.9
Slovakia	8.7
Estonia	8.6
France	6.6
Luxembourg	6.6
Greece	6.2

Gross Operating Surplus as a percentage of Turnover in Ireland was 20.2% in 2016, the highest profitability rate in the EU28
If Foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from Irish data the Gross Operating Surplus figure would fall to 11.2%

9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2016

9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2016

9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2016

9.4 Share of value added across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2016

9.5 Gross value added per person employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2016

9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU28 countries, 2016

Go to Appendices>>> Appendices

Why you can Trust the CSO

Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.

go to trust & transparency

Table 9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2016
	Total Turnover	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	Total
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	25,561.1	29.0	6.4	38.8	25.8	100.0
Belgium	988.3	24.9	7.1	45.9	22.0	100.0
Bulgaria	110.1	26.8	5.3	49.7	18.2	100.0
Czech Republic	403.6	39.9	6.4	34.6	19.1	100.0
Denmark	461.0	24.2	7.2	37.9	30.8	100.0
Germany	5,630.1	37.2	4.4	34.8	23.5	100.0
Estonia	50.3	23.6	8.3	44.8	23.3	100.0
Ireland	626.2	34.5	3.1	29.3	33.1	100.0
Greece	205.3	22.8	4.5	49.7	23.0	100.0
Spain	1,736.1	26.8	6.4	41.7	25.0	100.0
France	3,537.1	25.7	7.8	40.1	26.3	100.0
Croatia	75.3	26.6	7.6	41.6	24.2	100.0
Italy	2,606.1	34.1	6.1	37.7	22.1	100.0
Cyprus	26.6	11.4	8.8	42.6	37.2	100.0
Latvia	48.6	15.8	6.2	53.7	24.3	100.0
Lithuania	72.7	24.9	6.4	45.4	23.3	100.0
Luxembourg	140.1	9.4	5.5	56.4	28.7	100.0
Hungary	259.1	39.4	4.6	34.3	21.7	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	1,381.5	23.3	6.5	44.7	25.5	100.0
Austria	625.0	29.0	7.5	38.4	25.1	100.0
Poland	855.5	33.7	6.9	41.6	17.8	100.0
Portugal	297.2	27.6	5.9	43.1	23.4	100.0
Romania	250.1	30.1	6.4	44.6	19.0	100.0
Slovenia	78.5	33.6	5.5	39.6	21.3	100.0
Slovakia	172.6	41.8	5.6	31.7	21.0	100.0
Finland	353.8	34.4	9.3	32.7	23.6	100.0
Sweden	792.8	25.0	9.1	35.4	30.5	100.0
United Kingdom	3,759.2	18.7	7.7	39.4	34.2	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, 2016
	Gross value added	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	Total
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	6,791.9	28.2	8.0	19.9	44.0	100.0
Belgium	202.1	27.3	8.3	21.2	43.2	100.0
Bulgaria	22.1	32.3	6.3	24.0	37.4	100.0
Czech Republic	86.2	43.4	6.9	17.4	32.2	100.0
Denmark	133.3	25.3	8.4	20.4	45.9	100.0
Germany	1,589.2	35.9	6.4	19.1	38.6	100.0
Estonia	10.5	27.2	9.8	21.4	41.7	100.0
Ireland	182.2	47.5	3.8	12.2	36.5	100.0
Greece	39.9	26.2	5.1	26.1	42.7	100.0
Spain	441.9	23.8	8.4	23.5	44.3	100.0
France	896.7	23.8	9.3	19.9	47.0	100.0
Croatia	20.1	28.7	8.5	22.1	40.6	100.0
Italy	658.6	34.2	7.3	20.2	38.3	100.0
Cyprus	7.4	13.1	8.4	23.5	55.1	100.0
Latvia	10.0	21.6	7.4	25.3	45.7	100.0
Lithuania	15.8	26.6	8.9	25.4	39.1	100.0
Luxembourg	22.6	13.8	11.6	23.1	51.5	100.0
Hungary	53.3	40.8	4.8	17.8	36.6	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	330.4	20.3	8.1	23.9	47.6	100.0
Austria	177.2	30.7	9.5	20.1	39.7	100.0
Poland	171.2	37.5	7.8	22.8	31.9	100.0
Portugal	71.2	28.3	7.4	23.1	41.3	100.0
Romania	54.3	31.2	7.8	26.1	34.9	100.0
Slovenia	19.3	39.6	6.5	20.1	33.8	100.0
Slovakia	32.3	39.9	6.0	19.0	35.1	100.0
Finland	90.0	30.0	11.8	17.0	41.3	100.0
Sweden	216.8	24.7	10.4	19.2	45.7	100.0
United Kingdom	1,234.3	16.4	9.1	18.5	56.1	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, 2016
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's
European Union (EU28)	62.8	42.6	40.6	48.1	49.0
Belgium	111.6	52.5	69.2	66.1	73.4
Bulgaria	13.0	9.7	10.4	12.4	11.8
Czech Republic	29.0	16.3	21.2	23.9	24.4
Denmark	110.4	66.2	59.9	80.9	79.1
Germany	77.4	44.6	48.3	48.7	55.7
Estonia	26.3	22.2	24.1	27.5	25.8
Ireland	406.5	57.5	62.4	99.6	134.3
Greece	33.5	14.0	14.7	14.9	17.3
Spain	56.8	33.7	33.5	36.4	38.7
France	73.6	50.5	51.3	58.9	59.1
Croatia	21.8	17.3	19.5	22.7	21.1
Italy	61.4	36.3	39.5	43.3	46.4
Cyprus	32.4	28.9	26.8	37.3	32.8
Latvia	18.0	11.7	15.9	17.1	16.4
Lithuania	19.6	13.4	15.7	17.8	17.1
Luxembourg	92.8	60.0	102.2	87.3	86.3
Hungary	29.5	12.3	16.5	18.3	20.6
Malta	31.3	:	30.3	:	:
Netherlands	97.9	61.8	53.0	54.2	59.9
Austria	86.5	57.4	54.2	61.8	65.2
Poland	24.8	15.0	17.0	19.6	20.0
Portugal	29.3	17.3	21.9	22.3	23.3
Romania	14.0	11.3	15.6	14.8	14.4
Slovenia	38.8	20.5	34.0	31.2	33.2
Slovakia	26.9	12.7	17.9	22.6	21.9
Finland	81.2	55.0	52.8	60.6	63.1
Sweden	89.9	57.0	61.6	67.5	69.2
United Kingdom	78.1	80.2	48.5	64.8	63.7
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 2017

International Comparisons

International Comparisons

Business Demography

Business Operations

Contents

Why you can Trust the CSO

Contact:

Links:

Careers

Follow:

Table 9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2016
	Total active enterprises	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	Total
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	26,983	9.7	14.4	25.4	48.2	2.3	100.0
Belgium	659	6.3	16.8	23.1	51.8	2.0	100.0
Bulgaria	348	10.1	5.9	41.1	41.4	1.4	100.0
Czech Republic	1,038	18.6	16.9	23.2	38.7	2.6	100.0
Denmark	225	8.7	14.2	18.6	55.0	3.5	100.0
Germany	2,801	11.5	13.8	22.5	49.9	2.3	100.0
Estonia	86	10.5	13.1	23.6	51.7	1.1	100.0
Ireland	250	7.0	20.6	18.6	51.1	2.6	100.0
Greece	766	9.0	8.7	31.7	48.4	2.3	100.0
Spain	3,026	7.1	15.1	27.9	47.1	2.8	100.0
France	3,559	8.3	17.5	25.0	47.2	2.0	100.0
Croatia	147	14.4	12.0	24.9	48.0	0.8	100.0
Italy	3,850	10.8	13.4	29.3	44.0	2.4	100.0
Cyprus	52	10.2	14.0	31.4	39.9	4.6	100.0
Latvia	116	10.5	10.1	24.9	52.6	1.9	100.0
Lithuania	197	11.2	16.0	30.6	39.7	2.5	100.0
Luxembourg	32	2.9	11.5	22.9	57.6	5.2	100.0
Hungary	536	9.5	11.3	24.3	51.9	2.9	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	1,155	5.9	14.5	21.7	55.3	2.6	100.0
Austria	413	8.8	9.6	23.5	55.3	2.8	100.0
Poland	2,016	12.6	15.6	29.2	39.2	3.3	100.0
Portugal	844	8.7	9.3	26.1	54.0	1.8	100.0
Romania	717	10.6	9.7	38.2	39.9	1.6	100.0
Slovenia	143	15.1	13.6	18.8	51.2	1.4	100.0
Slovakia	454	15.5	19.5	25.0	38.1	1.9	100.0
Finland	290	10.4	17.0	19.8	50.7	2.2	100.0
Sweden	759	8.3	14.4	18.4	56.8	2.1	100.0
United Kingdom	2,467	6.8	14.5	17.0	59.8	1.8	100.0
Source: Eurostat - Business Demography Data
: Data not available.

Table 9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2016
	Total persons employed	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	Total
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	147,336	23.2	8.8	22.9	41.1	4.1	100.0
Belgium	2,871	18.8	10.4	21.8	44.8	4.3	100.0
Bulgaria	2,031	31.5	7.1	25.3	33.1	3.0	100.0
Czech Republic	3,845	37.5	10.0	19.6	29.9	3.0	100.0
Denmark	1,783	18.6	9.5	25.5	42.0	4.5	100.0
Germany	28,509	28.6	7.6	20.5	39.4	3.7	100.0
Estonia	460	27.4	10.2	21.7	38.5	2.2	100.0
Ireland	1,478	15.9	8.1	24.1	45.1	6.7	100.0
Greece	2,640	14.8	6.4	28.6	46.9	3.4	100.0
Spain	12,180	17.4	10.1	25.6	43.9	3.1	100.0
France	16,116	19.6	11.9	22.5	41.0	5.0	100.0
Croatia	1,034	29.7	9.6	22.1	34.8	3.9	100.0
Italy	15,125	26.4	8.8	22.4	38.7	3.8	100.0
Cyprus	247	13.6	8.6	26.2	43.6	8.1	100.0
Latvia	645	21.5	9.8	24.5	41.3	2.9	100.0
Lithuania	1,026	24.5	11.1	26.1	36.0	2.2	100.0
Luxembourg	326	11.8	14.2	16.6	44.4	13.0	100.0
Hungary	2,752	29.2	7.7	20.7	39.7	2.8	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	5,810	13.0	7.5	25.6	50.0	3.9	100.0
Austria	3,045	23.0	9.9	22.7	40.3	4.1	100.0
Poland	9,769	32.1	9.9	24.4	29.9	3.7	100.0
Portugal	3,199	23.1	9.4	23.4	41.2	2.9	100.0
Romania	4,410	32.6	9.1	24.2	31.7	2.3	100.0
Slovenia	628	34.9	10.1	18.1	33.5	3.4	100.0
Slovakia	1,607	32.9	9.6	21.6	33.3	2.6	100.0
Finland	1,606	22.8	13.1	19.2	41.8	3.0	100.0
Sweden	3,151	19.6	12.2	20.4	44.8	3.0	100.0
United Kingdom	21,144	13.7	7.0	23.5	50.9	4.8	100.0
Source: Eurostat - Business Demography Data
: Data not available.

Table 9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU28 countries, 2016
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	10.2	11.9	5.5	19.2	10.8
Belgium	10.5	9.4	4.0	19.6	9.5
Bulgaria	13.1	10.9	5.2	18.9	10.1
Czech Republic	11.3	10.8	5.1	17.3	10.3
Denmark	12.8	8.6	5.2	18.4	11.3
Germany	8.2	12.8	6.3	19.0	10.3
Estonia	8.5	7.6	4.0	17.6	8.6
Ireland	35.1	12.4	5.2	18.7	20.2
Greece	9.9	9.6	2.2	10.5	6.2
Spain	8.8	9.8	5.3	17.1	9.5
France	6.5	4.9	3.1	12.5	6.6
Croatia	11.9	12.0	6.0	19.9	11.4
Italy	10.0	12.4	6.5	20.9	11.3
Cyprus	13.0	11.2	5.3	18.9	11.7
Latvia	12.5	6.7	4.3	17.4	8.9
Lithuania	10.4	9.5	5.4	16.6	9.5
Luxembourg	9.1	8.9	3.6	11.3	6.6
Hungary	11.3	8.9	4.8	14.7	9.7
Malta	12.8	:	7.3	:	:
Netherlands	9.3	11.0	5.9	19.8	10.6
Austria	10.8	9.8	5.2	19.5	10.8
Poland	11.7	11.4	5.8	18.2	10.4
Portugal	10.4	6.4	4.7	17.6	9.4
Romania	9.1	12.0	7.2	17.1	9.9
Slovenia	11.5	7.7	5.2	17.3	10.0
Slovakia	8.0	9.6	5.2	15.1	8.7
Finland	8.5	9.8	4.1	16.1	9.0
Sweden	10.3	7.4	4.7	14.9	9.4
United Kingdom	13.7	22.5	7.3	27.2	16.4
Source: Eurostat - Business Survey Data
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).
: Data not available.