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Business in Ireland 2019

International Comparisons

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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 2018 as data for 2019 is incomplete for some countries. Irish data used in this chapter is for 2018 for comparison purposes. Data is available on the Eurostat website.

Business Demography

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	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	2.1	21.7	17.2	53	6
Bulgaria	1.3	40.5	6	42.3	9.9
Czechia	2.3	21.3	17.1	40.5	18.8
Denmark	3.8	17.7	14.3	55.8	8.5
Germany	2.3	22.1	14.2	50.2	11.2
Estonia	1.3	21.9	13.8	52.8	10.2
IRELAND	3.2	17.7	21.3	50.9	6.9
Greece	2.3	31.4	8.8	48.3	9.2
Spain	2.7	26.9	15.2	48.2	7
France	2.1	23.9	17.1	49	8
Croatia	0.7	23	12.3	49.9	14
Italy	2.4	28.5	13.1	45.3	10.6
Cyprus	5.4	29.7	14.2	41.1	9.6
Latvia	1.8	23.6	10.2	53.6	10.7
Lithuania	2	27.2	15.3	44.7	10.8
Luxembourg	5	21.5	11.7	59.1	2.7
Hungary	3.7	21.9	12.9	52.4	9.1
Malta	1.7	26.6	13.1	51.2	7.5
Netherlands	2.5	20.4	15.1	56	6
Austria	2.5	23.1	9.9	55.7	8.8
Poland	3.1	27.2	16.3	41.1	12.4
Portugal	1.6	24.1	9.4	56.7	8.3
Romania	1.6	36.3	10.2	41.3	10.6
Slovenia	1.3	17.9	13	53.1	14.7
Slovakia	2.7	21.6	20.3	39.6	15.9
Finland	2.2	18.1	16.5	53.4	10
Sweden	2.1	17.7	14.5	57.8	7.9
United Kingdom	1.8	17.7	15.1	58.7	6.7

In 2018, Ireland's largest sector for active enterprises was the Services sector accounting for 50.9% of all enterprises. This was higher than the EU average of 49.3% but lower than the United Kingdom where the Services sector accounted for 58.7% of all enterprises
Ireland had the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU for Construction, 21.3% of enterprises
The EU average for share of total enterprises for Construction was 14.6%. Bulgaria had the smallest percentage share in Construction at 6.0%

	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	4	20.7	10.2	46.2	18.9
Bulgaria	3.1	24.7	7.2	34.5	30.5
Czechia	2.7	18.5	9.7	31.7	37.4
Denmark	4.4	25.2	9.7	42.1	18.7
Germany	3.7	20.7	7.9	37.9	29.8
Estonia	2.3	20.8	11.1	39.1	26.7
IRELAND	6.6	23.3	9	45.5	15.6
Greece	3.1	27.5	6.2	47.8	15.5
Spain	3	24.9	10.4	44.2	17.6
France	4.8	21.9	11.8	42.3	19.2
Croatia	3.6	21.6	9.9	35.6	29.4
Italy	3.5	22	8.4	40.2	25.9
Cyprus	8.3	24.8	9.9	43.5	13.6
Latvia	2.3	23.3	10.8	42.5	21.1
Lithuania	1.7	24.6	10.9	38	24.8
Luxembourg	12.5	15.9	14.2	46.2	11.1
Hungary	3.2	19.5	8.6	40.3	28.4
Malta	5.3	21.5	6.9	51.7	14.6
Netherlands	3.3	25.2	7.6	51.1	12.7
Austria	4	22.3	10	40.7	23
Poland	3.5	23.6	9.9	30.5	32.5
Portugal	2.6	22.6	9.4	42.9	22.6
Romania	2.3	23.7	8.8	33.1	32.1
Slovenia	3.1	17.8	10	34.3	34.8
Slovakia	2.8	20.4	10.1	33.8	32.9
Finland	3.1	18.3	13.5	42.6	22.5
Sweden	2.9	19.9	12.5	45.5	19.2
United Kingdom	4.6	23.1	7.3	51.6	13.4

Industry accounted for 15.6% of the total number of persons employed in Ireland in 2018. There were only six countries with a lower percentage: Luxembourg (11.1%), the Netherlands (12.7%), the United Kingdom (13.4%) Cyprus (13.6%), Malta (14.6%) and Greece (15.5%).
Ireland's largest sector for employment was Services at 45.5%. This was just higher than the EU28 average of 41.7%.

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.

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	39.1	10.4	4.7	45.8
Germany	38.1	18.1	7	36.8
Italy	38.2	19.7	7	35
Spain	44.1	22.4	9.2	24.3
France	45.1	19.5	10.1	25.2
United Kingdom	57	17.7	9.5	15.8

The Manufacturing sector in Ireland accounted for the highest share of total gross value added (GVA) at 45.8% in 2018
The Construction sector in Ireland had the lowest share of total GVA at 4.7%
The Services sector accounted for 39.1% of total GVA in Ireland in 2018, while the United Kingdom recorded the highest percentage of total GVA for the Services sector (57.0%)

	GVA per person employed
IRELAND (all enterprises)	152800
Luxembourg	92300
Denmark	84900
Belgium	74600
Sweden	68500
IRELAND (indigenous)	67398
Austria	67100
Finland	66300
Netherlands	63000
France	62400
United Kingdom	61600
Germany	58200
Italy	47800
Malta	41600
Spain	40500
Slovenia	36100
Cyprus	34300
Estonia	29700
Czechia	28600
Hungary	24900
Portugal	24800
Poland	23600
Croatia	23400
Slovakia	23300
Lithuania	20900
Latvia	19300
Greece	18000
Romania	17900
Bulgaria	13700

Ireland recorded the highest figure in the EU28 for gross value added (GVA) per person employed in 2018 at €152,800, the next highest was Luxembourg, who reported €92,300 GVA per person employed, 39.6% lower than Ireland
If foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from the Irish data the GVA per person employed would fall to €67,398, a level similar to Austria and Finland

	Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover
IRELAND (all enterprises)	23.3
Malta	15.3
IRELAND (indigenous)	15
United Kingdom	14.7
Denmark	12.7
Cyprus	12.1
Croatia	11.3
Hungary	11.3
Italy	11.2
Romania	10.8
Netherlands	10.7
Poland	10.5
Austria	10.5
Germany	10.2
Slovenia	10.1
Czechia	9.9
Belgium	9.9
Lithuania	9.9
Bulgaria	9.6
Portugal	9.4
Spain	9.4
Sweden	9.3
Latvia	9.3
Finland	9.3
Slovakia	8.3
Estonia	8.3
Greece	7.3
France	6.6
Luxembourg	5.9

Gross operating surplus (GOS) as a percentage of turnover in Ireland was 23.3% in 2018, the highest profitability rate in the EU28
If foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from Irish data the GOS figure would fall to 15.0%

9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018

9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018

9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018

9.4 Share of value added across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018

9.5 Gross value added per person employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018

9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU28 countries, 2018

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Table 9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018
	Total Turnover	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	Total
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	27,868.3	30.2	6.8	37.5	25.6	100.0
Belgium	1,007.0	26.5	6.9	45.7	20.9	100.0
Bulgaria	130.2	26.9	6.0	48.3	18.7	100.0
Czechia	480.5	39.5	6.9	33.8	19.8	100.0
Denmark	496.5	23.9	7.5	37.0	31.6	100.0
Germany	6,118.4	38.5	5.0	33.2	23.4	100.0
Estonia	61.8	21.3	9.2	45.5	24.0	100.0
Ireland	715.3	35.8	4.1	25.5	34.7	100.0
Greece	232.0	26.2	4.3	46.4	23.1	100.0
Spain	1,933.4	28.5	7.5	38.9	25.1	100.0
France	3,658.8	28.7	8.4	37.0	25.9	100.0
Croatia	86.6	26.0	7.6	42.4	24.0	100.0
Italy	2,765.1	36.1	5.8	36.2	21.9	100.0
Cyprus	32.5	11.5	11.0	40.1	37.4	100.0
Latvia	57.5	16.0	8.2	51.8	24.0	100.0
Lithuania	88.2	25.2	7.0	43.0	24.8	100.0
Luxembourg	187.5	7.5	4.6	47.7	40.2	100.0
Hungary	305.0	37.7	6.7	33.4	22.2	100.0
Malta	23.7	11.2	5.3	40.1	43.4	100.0
Netherlands	1,580.3	23.9	6.6	43.7	25.8	100.0
Austria	683.4	32.1	7.8	36.4	23.6	100.0
Poland	1,055.2	33.7	7.7	39.8	18.8	100.0
Portugal	347.8	27.4	6.1	42.1	24.5	100.0
Romania	294.6	33.6	6.4	40.7	19.4	100.0
Slovenia	93.6	33.4	6.4	39.2	21.0	100.0
Slovakia	197.2	41.7	6.0	30.4	21.9	100.0
Finland	382.1	34.6	9.9	31.1	24.4	100.0
Sweden	807.8	27.8	10.2	32.7	29.3	100.0
United Kingdom	4,046.6	17.4	7.8	41.8	33.0	100.0
Source: Eurostat @ 14.09.21 - Business Survey Data
¹ Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).

Table 9.4 Share of value added across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018
	Gross value added	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	Total
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	7,415.3	28.8	8.4	19.3	43.5	100.0
Belgium	216.2	27.4	8.5	22.2	41.9	100.0
Bulgaria	26.3	29.8	7.1	23.4	39.7	100.0
Czechia	104.1	40.8	7.3	18.8	33.1	100.0
Denmark	151.0	25.2	8.2	19.5	47.1	100.0
Germany	1,765.9	36.8	7.0	18.1	38.1	100.0
Estonia	12.6	26.4	10.0	21.9	41.8	100.0
Ireland	226.0	45.8	4.7	10.4	39.1	100.0
Greece	45.5	26.1	3.8	26.1	44.0	100.0
Spain	497.1	24.3	9.2	22.4	44.1	100.0
France	955.5	25.2	10.1	19.5	45.1	100.0
Croatia	23.0	27.2	8.1	23.3	41.4	100.0
Italy	705.8	35.0	7.0	19.7	38.2	100.0
Cyprus	9.1	13.2	10.5	21.9	54.3	100.0
Latvia	12.2	21.1	9.5	24.1	45.2	100.0
Lithuania	19.9	25.0	8.9	24.4	41.7	100.0
Luxembourg	26.1	12.1	11.4	21.2	55.2	100.0
Hungary	68.2	38.3	7.5	18.4	35.8	100.0
Malta	6.5	13.5	6.5	16.6	63.4	100.0
Netherlands	372.6	19.9	8.4	24.0	47.7	100.0
Austria	192.1	32.1	10.1	20.3	37.6	100.0
Poland	221.0	36.2	8.3	22.1	33.4	100.0
Portugal	83.3	26.9	7.9	22.5	42.7	100.0
Romania	69.3	32.8	8.0	24.4	34.8	100.0
Slovenia	22.8	38.6	7.4	19.7	34.2	100.0
Slovakia	37.4	39.8	6.6	18.7	34.9	100.0
Finland	98.3	29.9	11.7	16.6	41.8	100.0
Sweden	227.2	26.4	11.6	17.9	44.1	100.0
United Kingdom	1,220.7	15.8	9.5	17.7	57.0	100.0
Source: Eurostat @ 14.09.21 - Business Survey Data
¹ Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).

Table 9.5 Gross value added per person employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's
European Union (EU28)	65.8	45.6	41.7	49.4	50.9
Belgium	117.6	57.3	72.0	64.4	74.6
Bulgaria	14.1	12.3	12.0	14.9	13.7
Czechia	32.0	20.3	27.3	28.1	28.6
Denmark	118.6	67.2	62.2	88.9	84.9
Germany	80.0	49.8	48.9	50.8	58.2
Estonia	30.1	25.1	29.3	31.0	29.7
Ireland	455.1	73.9	62.6	120.8	152.8
Greece	33.0	11.8	15.8	15.7	18.0
Spain	59.8	35.9	35.3	37.5	40.5
France	77.4	56.5	55.4	60.6	62.4
Croatia	23.3	17.6	23.0	25.3	23.4
Italy	65.3	38.0	40.8	43.2	47.8
Cyprus	35.2	30.9	27.8	38.5	34.3
Latvia	21.5	16.1	18.8	19.4	19.3
Lithuania	22.7	16.2	19.7	21.9	20.9
Luxembourg	91.7	63.3	104.7	97.2	92.3
Hungary	32.9	21.1	21.7	21.7	24.9
Malta	37.1	36.9	30.1	48.4	41.6
Netherlands	103.8	66.2	57.2	56.1	63.0
Austria	90.5	60.9	57.3	61.0	67.1
Poland	27.9	18.3	20.4	23.9	23.6
Portugal	30.5	20.0	23.7	23.6	24.8
Romania	18.4	15.3	18.4	17.8	17.9
Slovenia	41.2	25.1	37.5	33.8	36.1
Slovakia	28.9	14.3	20.1	23.0	23.3
Finland	86.9	55.7	56.4	63.4	66.3
Sweden	93.1	59.5	58.7	65.3	68.5
United Kingdom	74.7	75.8	43.0	65.1	61.6
Source: Eurostat @ 15.09.21 - Business Survey Data
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).

Business in Ireland 2019

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Table 9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018
	Total active enterprises	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	Total
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	27,886	9.5	14.6	24.3	49.3	2.3	100.0
Belgium	668	6.0	17.2	21.7	53.0	2.1	100.0
Bulgaria	353	9.9	6.0	40.5	42.3	1.3	100.0
Czechia	1,060	18.8	17.1	21.3	40.5	2.3	100.0
Denmark	233	8.5	14.3	17.7	55.8	3.8	100.0
Germany	2,694	11.2	14.2	22.1	50.2	2.3	100.0
Estonia	93	10.2	13.8	21.9	52.8	1.3	100.0
Ireland	270	6.9	21.3	17.7	50.9	3.2	100.0
Greece	801	9.2	8.8	31.4	48.3	2.3	100.0
Spain	3,063	7.0	15.2	26.9	48.2	2.7	100.0
France	3,982	8.0	17.1	23.9	49.0	2.1	100.0
Croatia	156	14.0	12.3	23.0	49.9	0.7	100.0
Italy	3,834	10.6	13.1	28.5	45.3	2.4	100.0
Cyprus	52	9.6	14.2	29.7	41.1	5.4	100.0
Latvia	114	10.7	10.2	23.6	53.6	1.8	100.0
Lithuania	213	10.8	15.3	27.2	44.7	2.0	100.0
Luxembourg	35	2.7	11.7	21.5	59.1	5.0	100.0
Hungary	605	9.1	12.9	21.9	52.4	3.7	100.0
Malta	42	7.5	13.1	26.6	51.2	1.7	100.0
Netherlands	1,244	6.0	15.1	20.4	56.0	2.5	100.0
Austria	411	8.8	9.9	23.1	55.7	2.5	100.0
Poland	2,002	12.4	16.3	27.2	41.1	3.1	100.0
Portugal	905	8.3	9.4	24.1	56.7	1.6	100.0
Romania	748	10.6	10.2	36.3	41.3	1.6	100.0
Slovenia	146	14.7	13.0	17.9	53.1	1.3	100.0
Slovakia	502	15.9	20.3	21.6	39.6	2.7	100.0
Finland	303	10.0	16.5	18.1	53.4	2.2	100.0
Sweden	779	7.9	14.5	17.7	57.8	2.1	100.0
United Kingdom	2,580	6.7	15.1	17.7	58.7	1.8	100.0
Source: Eurostat @ 13.09.21 - Business Demography Data

Table 9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in EU28 countries, 2018
	Total persons employed	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	Total
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	153,230	23.1	9.1	22.4	41.7	3.7	100.0
Belgium	3,040	18.9	10.2	20.7	46.2	4.0	100.0
Bulgaria	2,108	30.5	7.2	24.7	34.5	3.1	100.0
Czechia	3,869	37.4	9.7	18.5	31.7	2.7	100.0
Denmark	1,890	18.7	9.7	25.2	42.1	4.4	100.0
Germany	28,852	29.8	7.9	20.7	37.9	3.7	100.0
Estonia	476	26.7	11.1	20.8	39.1	2.3	100.0
Ireland	1,608	15.6	9.0	23.3	45.5	6.6	100.0
Greece	3,022	15.5	6.2	27.5	47.8	3.1	100.0
Spain	12,894	17.6	10.4	24.9	44.2	3.0	100.0
France	16,614	19.2	11.8	21.9	42.3	4.8	100.0
Croatia	1,076	29.4	9.9	21.6	35.6	3.6	100.0
Italy	15,627	25.9	8.4	22.0	40.2	3.5	100.0
Cyprus	269	13.6	9.9	24.8	43.5	8.3	100.0
Latvia	672	21.1	10.8	23.3	42.5	2.3	100.0
Lithuania	1,001	24.8	10.9	24.6	38.0	1.7	100.0
Luxembourg	351	11.1	14.2	15.9	46.2	12.5	100.0
Hungary	3,027	28.4	8.6	19.5	40.3	3.2	100.0
Malta	176	14.6	6.9	21.5	51.7	5.3	100.0
Netherlands	6,195	12.7	7.6	25.2	51.1	3.3	100.0
Austria	3,169	23.0	10.0	22.3	40.7	4.0	100.0
Poland	10,145	32.5	9.9	23.6	30.5	3.5	100.0
Portugal	3,507	22.6	9.4	22.6	42.9	2.6	100.0
Romania	4,421	32.1	8.8	23.7	33.1	2.3	100.0
Slovenia	674	34.8	10.0	17.8	34.3	3.1	100.0
Slovakia	1,711	32.9	10.1	20.4	33.8	2.8	100.0
Finland	1,686	22.5	13.5	18.3	42.6	3.1	100.0
Sweden	3,264	19.2	12.5	19.9	45.5	2.9	100.0
United Kingdom	21,899	13.4	7.3	23.1	51.6	4.6	100.0
Source: Eurostat @ 12.10.21 - Business Demography Data

Table 9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU28 countries, 2018
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin) ¹	All sectors
	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU28)	9.8	12.3	5.4	19.3	10.8
Belgium	10.4	10.8	4.8	20.3	9.9
Bulgaria	10.7	11.7	5.0	19.3	9.6
Czechia	9.7	11.3	5.9	16.9	9.9
Denmark	14.2	8.0	5.4	21.3	12.7
Germany	7.8	14.4	6.0	19.4	10.2
Estonia	9.0	6.5	4.3	15.9	8.3
Ireland	35.7	14.4	6.1	24.3	23.3
Greece	9.0	5.3	3.5	13.2	7.3
Spain	8.6	8.5	5.3	16.9	9.4
France	5.8	6.3	3.4	12.1	6.6
Croatia	10.9	9.3	6.5	21.1	11.3
Italy	9.9	12.7	6.5	20.8	11.2
Cyprus	13.8	11.3	5.5	18.9	12.1
Latvia	12.6	9.7	4.5	17.5	9.3
Lithuania	9.4	8.8	5.7	17.9	9.9
Luxembourg	8.0	9.4	3.4	8.0	5.9
Hungary	11.7	15.5	6.4	16.6	11.3
Malta	13.9	22.6	6.0	23.3	15.3
Netherlands	8.8	12.5	6.2	19.3	10.7
Austria	9.8	9.8	5.6	19.0	10.5
Poland	11.3	12.3	5.9	18.1	10.5
Portugal	9.7	9.0	4.7	17.3	9.4
Romania	9.9	14.8	7.5	17.7	10.8
Slovenia	11.0	9.7	5.3	18.0	10.1
Slovakia	7.4	11.1	5.1	13.5	8.3
Finland	9.0	8.5	4.5	16.2	9.3
Sweden	10.5	8.0	4.3	14.3	9.3
United Kingdom	12.7	20.5	5.6	26.0	14.7
Source: Eurostat @ 15.09.21 - Business Survey Data
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).