You are here: Home / Statistics / Business in Ireland 2018 / International Comparisons

Business in Ireland 2018

International Comparisons

Open in Excel:

Some international comparisons of the key characteristics of the Business Economy are presented in this chapter. These comparisons are possible as Structural Business Statistics are collected across the EU28. The reference year used for the EU data is 2017 as data for 2018 is incomplete for some countries. Irish data used in this chapter is for 2017 for comparison purposes. Data is available on the Eurostat website.

Business Demography

Open in Excel:

	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	2	22.4	17	52.3	6.2
Bulgaria	1.4	40.9	5.9	41.8	10
Czechia	2.4	22	17.1	39.8	18.7
Denmark	3.6	18.2	14.2	55.4	8.6
Germany	2.3	22.3	13.8	50.3	11.4
Estonia	1.5	22.8	13.3	52	10.3
IRELAND	3	17.9	21.1	51	6.9
Greece	2.3	31.7	8.8	48.2	9.1
Spain	2.8	27.3	15	47.6	7.3
France	2	24.5	17.3	48	8.1
Croatia	0.8	23.9	12.1	49	14.3
Italy	2.4	29	13.3	44.6	10.7
Latvia	1.8	24.3	10.2	53	10.7
Lithuania	2.3	28.7	15.5	42.7	10.9
Luxembourg	5	22.2	11.5	58.5	2.8
Hungary	3.9	22.7	12	52.1	9.3
Malta	2.1	29.2	13.1	47.8	7.7
Netherlands	2.6	21.1	14.7	55.6	5.9
Austria	2.6	23.4	9.8	55.5	8.8
Poland	3.2	28.3	15.8	40.2	12.5
Portugal	1.7	25	9.3	55.6	8.4
Romania	1.6	37.4	9.9	40.6	10.5
Slovenia	1.3	18.5	13.1	52.2	15
Slovakia	2.6	23.2	19.8	38.7	15.6
Finland	2.2	18.6	16.5	52.6	10.1
Sweden	2.1	18	14.5	57.2	8.1
United Kingdom	1.8	17	14.8	59.5	6.8

In 2017, Ireland's largest sector for active enterprises was the Services sector accounting for 51.0% of all enterprises. This was higher than the EU average of 48.7% but lower than the United Kingdom where the Services sector accounted for 59.5% of all enterprises
Ireland had the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU for Construction, 21.1% of enterprises
The EU average for share of total enterprises for Construction was 14.4%. Bulgaria had the smallest percentage share in Construction at 5.9%

	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	4.1	21.4	10.3	45.6	18.5
Bulgaria	3.2	25.2	7.1	33.5	31.1
Czechia	2.8	18.5	9.7	31.3	37.6
Denmark	4.4	25.4	9.7	41.9	18.6
Germany	3.6	20.4	7.6	39.9	28.5
Estonia	2.4	21.4	10.4	38.7	27.1
IRELAND	6.6	23.6	8.8	45.3	15.6
Greece	3.5	28	5.8	47.8	15
Spain	2.9	25.2	10.2	44.2	17.5
France	4.9	21.9	12	41.7	19.6
Croatia	3.7	21.5	9.7	35.6	29.5
Italy	3.7	22.2	8.5	39.6	26
Latvia	2.4	24.1	10.1	41.7	21.6
Lithuania	2.1	25.4	10.9	37	24.7
Luxembourg	12.8	16.3	14.1	45.4	11.4
Hungary	3.4	19.9	7.9	39.5	29.2
Netherlands	3.6	25.4	7.5	50.7	12.8
Austria	3.9	22.5	10	40.7	22.9
Poland	3.5	24.1	9.8	30.8	31.9
Portugal	2.7	22.9	9.3	42.3	22.8
Romania	2.3	24.4	8.8	32.3	32.3
Slovenia	3.2	18.1	9.6	34.2	34.9
Slovakia	2.8	21.3	9.9	33.2	32.8
Finland	3	18.7	13.5	42.4	22.5
Sweden	2.9	20.2	12.4	45.2	19.3
United Kingdom	4.7	23.3	7.1	51.3	13.5

Industry accounted for 15.6% of the total number of persons employed in Ireland in 2017. There were only four countries with a lower percentage: Luxembourg (11.4%), the Netherlands (12.8%), the United Kingdom (13.5%) and Greece (15.0%)
Ireland's largest sector for employment was Services at 45.3%. Five countries had a higher percentage of persons employed in this sector - the United Kingdom (51.3%), the Netherlands (50.7%), Greece (47.8%), Belgium (45.6%) and Luxembourg (45.4%).

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	36.3	11.1	4.6	48.1
Germany	39.4	18.3	6.6	35.7
Italy	37.9	19.7	7.2	35.3
Spain	44.9	23.1	8.3	23.7
France	45.3	19.3	9.8	25.6
United Kingdom	56.5	17.8	9.3	16.5

The Manufacturing sector in Ireland accounted for the highest share of total Gross Value Added (GVA) at 48.1% in 2017
The Construction sector in Ireland had the lowest share of total GVA at 4.6%
The Services sector accounted for 36.3% of total GVA in Ireland in 2017, while the United Kingdom recorded the highest percentage of total GVA for the Services sector (56.5%)

	GVA per person employed
IRELAND (all enterprises)	141500
Luxembourg	91000
Denmark	81500
Belgium	75300
Sweden	68500
IRELAND (indigenous)	66200
Austria	66200
Finland	66100
France	61600
Netherlands	61000
United Kingdom	60400
Germany	56900
Italy	47000
Spain	39600
Slovenia	35100
Cyprus	34100
Estonia	27600
Czechia	26400
Portugal	24300
Hungary	23000
Slovakia	22500
Croatia	21900
Poland	21600
Greece	19300
Lithuania	18600
Latvia	17100
Bulgaria	12800

Ireland recorded the highest figure in the EU28 for Gross Value Added (GVA) per person employed in 2017 at €141,500, the next highest is Luxembourg, who reported €91,000 GVA per person employed, 35.7% lower than Ireland
If foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from the Irish data the GVA per person employed would fall to €66,200, a level similar to Austria and Finland

	Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover
Ireland (all enterprises)	22.7
United Kingdom	15
Ireland (indigenous)	13.3
Cyprus	12.3
Croatia	11.5
Italy	11.3
Denmark	11.2
Austria	10.7
Netherlands	10.5
Slovenia	10.5
Poland	10.3
Hungary	10.2
Bulgaria	10
Czechia	10
Germany	9.9
Finland	9.9
Belgium	9.7
Portugal	9.7
Spain	9.5
Lithuania	9.2
Sweden	9.1
Slovakia	8.7
Estonia	8.6
Latvia	8.5
Greece	7.5
France	6.9
Luxembourg	6.3

Gross Operating Surplus (GOS) as a percentage of turnover in Ireland was 22.7% in 2017, the highest profitability rate in the EU28
If foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from Irish data the GOS figure would fall to 13.3%

9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2017

9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2017

9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2017

9.4 Share of value added across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2017

9.5 Gross value added per person employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2017

9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU28 countries, 2017

Go to Appendices>>> Appendices

Contact:

Central Statistics Office
Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

Tel:

(+353) 21 453 5000

E-Mail:

information@cso.ie

Careers

You can count on a rewarding career with the CSO.

Learn about our variety of roles and the benefits of working with the CSO.

Table 9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2017
	Total Turnover	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	Total
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	26,782.7	29.6	6.4	38.4	25.6	100.0
Belgium	1,026.6	26.1	7.1	44.4	22.4	100.0
Bulgaria	121.7	27.4	5.6	49.0	18.0	100.0
Czechia	444.7	40.0	6.5	34.1	19.3	100.0
Denmark	489.0	23.7	7.2	37.5	31.6	100.0
Germany	5,958.3	36.8	4.4	35.0	23.7	100.0
Estonia	55.9	22.3	8.8	44.9	24.0	100.0
Ireland	649.5	34.8	3.8	28.7	32.6	100.0
Greece	225.2	24.0	4.4	48.6	23.0	100.0
Spain	1,856.2	27.2	6.3	41.5	24.9	100.0
France	3,550.6	28.8	8.1	37.1	26.0	100.0
Croatia	80.5	26.7	7.4	41.5	24.4	100.0
Italy	2,680.2	36.0	5.9	36.2	21.9	100.0
Cyprus	29.8	11.4	10.0	41.0	37.6	100.0
Latvia	52.9	15.9	7.4	52.8	23.9	100.0
Lithuania	81.1	25.0	6.6	44.3	24.1	100.0
Luxembourg	165.4	8.3	4.8	52.3	34.7	100.0
Hungary	285.8	38.3	5.6	34.0	22.1	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	1,488.7	23.2	6.5	44.7	25.6	100.0
Austria	659.1	29.0	7.4	38.7	24.9	100.0
Poland	952.5	33.8	6.8	41.6	17.8	100.0
Portugal	325.7	27.7	6.0	42.2	24.1	100.0
Romania	271.7	30.9	6.0	44.1	19.0	100.0
Slovenia	86.3	34.0	5.6	39.2	21.2	100.0
Slovakia	184.6	41.4	5.8	31.3	21.5	100.0
Finland	362.1	34.2	10.0	31.6	24.2	100.0
Sweden	836.8	25.5	9.5	35.2	29.8	100.0
United Kingdom	3,838.3	18.2	7.5	41.2	33.1	100.0
Source: Eurostat @ 21.08.20 - 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, 2017
	Gross value added	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	Total
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	7,047.4	28.7	8.1	19.4	43.8	100.0
Belgium	212.4	26.4	8.6	22.2	42.8	100.0
Bulgaria	24.5	31.8	6.5	23.8	37.9	100.0
Czechia	94.9	42.1	7.0	18.1	32.8	100.0
Denmark	140.0	25.4	8.3	20.5	45.8	100.0
Germany	1,660.2	35.7	6.6	18.3	39.4	100.0
Estonia	11.6	26.1	9.8	21.1	43.0	100.0
Ireland	202.3	48.1	4.6	11.1	36.3	100.0
Greece	44.0	26.2	5.6	25.5	42.7	100.0
Spain	467.8	23.7	8.3	23.1	44.9	100.0
France	937.1	25.6	9.8	19.3	45.3	100.0
Croatia	21.4	28.7	8.8	22.6	40.0	100.0
Italy	683.6	35.3	7.2	19.7	37.9	100.0
Cyprus	8.3	12.9	9.5	22.6	54.9	100.0
Latvia	10.6	22.1	8.5	24.8	44.5	100.0
Lithuania	17.5	26.0	8.7	24.9	40.4	100.0
Luxembourg	24.7	12.6	11.3	21.5	54.6	100.0
Hungary	60.5	40.0	5.9	17.6	36.6	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	348.2	20.3	8.1	24.0	47.5	100.0
Austria	184.7	30.5	9.5	20.1	39.9	100.0
Poland	190.1	37.0	7.9	22.8	32.3	100.0
Portugal	78.2	27.9	7.4	22.6	42.0	100.0
Romania	:	:	:	:	:	:
Slovenia	21.3	39.4	6.7	19.9	34.0	100.0
Slovakia	35.1	40.1	6.6	18.7	34.7	100.0
Finland	96.1	31.0	12.0	16.3	40.7	100.0
Sweden	221.3	24.9	10.9	19.1	45.2	100.0
United Kingdom	1,179.4	16.5	9.3	17.8	56.5	100.0
Source: Eurostat @ 20.08.20 - 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, 2017
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's
European Union (EU28)	65.0	43.7	40.6	48.6	49.8
Belgium	112.0	54.4	75.9	66.7	75.3
Bulgaria	14.0	10.9	11.3	13.5	12.8
Czechia	30.3	17.9	24.3	26.1	26.4
Denmark	114.8	66.1	62.2	83.2	81.5
Germany	79.9	47.4	47.4	50.1	56.9
Estonia	27.4	23.9	26.0	29.8	27.6
Ireland	442.6	67.2	61.0	104.1	141.5
Greece	35.9	19.7	16.3	16.4	19.3
Spain	57.8	33.6	34.5	37.4	39.6
France	77.4	54.6	53.8	60.1	61.6
Croatia	22.8	18.3	21.1	22.6	21.9
Italy	64.5	37.2	39.4	42.6	47.0
Cyprus	33.8	30.4	27.5	38.9	34.1
Latvia	19.5	13.6	16.6	17.2	17.1
Lithuania	21.0	14.2	17.4	19.4	18.6
Luxembourg	91.6	62.0	103.2	95.7	91.0
Hungary	31.9	16.4	18.7	20.4	23.0
Malta	:	41.4	36.7	50.6	:
Netherlands	101.4	62.7	54.9	54.5	61.0
Austria	88.1	58.4	55.5	62.4	66.2
Poland	26.5	16.4	18.8	21	21.6
Portugal	30.7	18.6	23.0	23.1	24.3
Romania	15.4	12.4	16.6	:	:
Slovenia	40.8	22.9	36.2	32.7	35.1
Slovakia	28.1	14.1	18.5	22.6	22.5
Finland	89.4	56.8	54.4	62.1	66.1
Sweden	90.3	58.3	61.7	65.5	68.5
United Kingdom	75.9	72.0	42.2	63.6	60.4
Source: Eurostat @ 21.08.20 - 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 2018

International Comparisons

International Comparisons

Business Demography

Business Operations

Contents

Contact:

Links:

Careers

Follow:

Table 9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2017
	Total active enterprises	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	Total
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	27,522	9.6	14.4	24.9	48.7	2.4	100.0
Belgium	673	6.2	17.0	22.4	52.3	2.0	100.0
Bulgaria	348	10.0	5.9	40.9	41.8	1.4	100.0
Czechia	1,037	18.7	17.1	22.0	39.8	2.4	100.0
Denmark	230	8.6	14.2	18.2	55.4	3.6	100.0
Germany	2,802	11.4	13.8	22.3	50.3	2.3	100.0
Estonia	90	10.3	13.3	22.8	52.0	1.5	100.0
Ireland	271	6.9	21.1	17.9	51.0	3.0	100.0
Greece	770	9.1	8.8	31.7	48.2	2.3	100.0
Spain	3,034	7.3	15.0	27.3	47.6	2.8	100.0
France	3,750	8.1	17.3	24.5	48.0	2.0	100.0
Croatia	149	14.3	12.1	23.9	49.0	0.8	100.0
Italy	3,839	10.7	13.3	29.0	44.6	2.4	100.0
Cyprus	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Latvia	114	10.7	10.2	24.3	53.0	1.8	100.0
Lithuania	205	10.9	15.5	28.7	42.7	2.3	100.0
Luxembourg	34	2.8	11.5	22.2	58.5	5.0	100.0
Hungary	556	9.3	12.0	22.7	52.1	3.9	100.0
Malta	38	7.7	13.1	29.2	47.8	2.1	100.0
Netherlands	1,181	5.9	14.7	21.1	55.6	2.6	100.0
Austria	411	8.8	9.8	23.4	55.5	2.6	100.0
Poland	2,084	12.5	15.8	28.3	40.2	3.2	100.0
Portugal	878	8.4	9.3	25.0	55.6	1.7	100.0
Romania	734	10.5	9.9	37.4	40.6	1.6	100.0
Slovenia	143	15.0	13.1	18.5	52.2	1.3	100.0
Slovakia	481	15.6	19.8	23.2	38.7	2.6	100.0
Finland	299	10.1	16.5	18.6	52.6	2.2	100.0
Sweden	770	8.1	14.5	18.0	57.2	2.1	100.0
United Kingdom	2,550	6.8	14.8	17.0	59.5	1.8	100.0
Source: Eurostat @ 20.08.20 - Business Demography Data
: Data not available.

Table 9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2017
	Total persons employed	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	Total
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	150,574	23.0	9.0	22.5	41.8	3.8	100.0
Belgium	2,927	18.5	10.3	21.4	45.6	4.1	100.0
Bulgaria	2,074	31.1	7.1	25.2	33.5	3.2	100.0
Czechia	3,816	37.6	9.7	18.5	31.3	2.8	100.0
Denmark	1,816	18.6	9.7	25.4	41.9	4.4	100.0
Germany	29,016	28.5	7.6	20.4	39.9	3.6	100.0
Estonia	466	27.1	10.4	21.4	38.7	2.4	100.0
Ireland	1,556	15.6	8.8	23.6	45.3	6.6	100.0
Greece	2,629	15.0	5.8	28.0	47.8	3.5	100.0
Spain	12,590	17.5	10.2	25.2	44.2	2.9	100.0
France	16,337	19.6	12.0	21.9	41.7	4.9	100.0
Croatia	1,060	29.5	9.7	21.5	35.6	3.7	100.0
Italy	15,435	26.0	8.5	22.2	39.6	3.7	100.0
Cyprus	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Latvia	655	21.6	10.1	24.1	41.7	2.4	100.0
Lithuania	988	24.7	10.9	25.4	37.0	2.1	100.0
Luxembourg	339	11.4	14.1	16.3	45.4	12.8	100.0
Hungary	2,840	29.2	7.9	19.9	39.5	3.4	100.0
Malta	:	:	:	:	:	:	:
Netherlands	5,991	12.8	7.5	25.4	50.7	3.6	100.0
Austria	3,100	22.9	10.0	22.5	40.7	3.9	100.0
Poland	10,086	31.9	9.8	24.1	30.8	3.5	100.0
Portugal	3,360	22.8	9.3	22.9	42.3	2.7	100.0
Romania	4,446	32.3	8.8	24.4	32.3	2.3	100.0
Slovenia	647	34.9	9.6	18.1	34.2	3.2	100.0
Slovakia	1,669	32.8	9.9	21.3	33.2	2.8	100.0
Finland	1,635	22.5	13.5	18.7	42.4	3.0	100.0
Sweden	3,206	19.3	12.4	20.2	45.2	2.9	100.0
United Kingdom	21,483	13.5	7.1	23.3	51.3	4.7	100.0
Source: Eurostat @ 20.08.20 - Business Demography Data
: Data not available.

Table 9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU28 countries, 2017
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	10.1	12.2	5.2	19.1	10.6
Belgium	9.7	10.5	4.9	19.1	9.7
Bulgaria	12.2	11.1	5.2	19.3	10.0
Czechia	10.3	11.1	5.5	17.3	10.0
Denmark	13.4	7.6	5.1	17.6	11.2
Germany	8.1	13.5	5.3	18.9	9.9
Estonia	8.3	8.2	4.0	17.8	8.6
Ireland	37.9	13.0	5.7	22.7	22.7
Greece	10.1	13.6	3.1	12.9	7.5
Spain	8.6	9.4	5.1	17.7	9.5
France	6.4	6.1	3.4	12.8	6.9
Croatia	12.1	12.8	6.3	19.2	11.5
Italy	10.1	12.7	6.5	20.7	11.3
Cyprus	13.2	11.5	5.6	19.4	12.3
Latvia	12.3	7.9	4.1	15.8	8.5
Lithuania	9.7	8.0	5.4	16.2	9.2
Luxembourg	8.2	9.3	3.3	10.0	6.3
Hungary	11.7	11.5	5.0	15.3	10.2
Malta	:	24.8	9.0	25.5	:
Netherlands	9.3	11.9	5.9	19.2	10.5
Austria	10.8	9.9	5.2	19.5	10.7
Poland	11.3	12.1	5.8	18.1	10.3
Portugal	10.5	7.7	4.8	17.9	9.7
Romania	8.4	12.2	6.9	:	:
Slovenia	11.7	9.8	5.5	18.1	10.5
Slovakia	8.1	11.8	4.8	14.4	8.7
Finland	10.4	9.8	4.4	16.5	9.9
Sweden	10.0	7.4	4.3	14.6	9.1
United Kingdom	13.0	22.0	5.8	26.0	15.0
Source: Eurostat @ 21.08.20 - Business Survey Data
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).
: Data not available.