Data on businesses in Germany and the EU

Analyses

• Businesses by federal state 2024Legal units per federal state, by employee size class and per 1,000 inhabitants.
• Business births and deaths 2021–2024Births, deaths and their rates in total and by economic section; 2024 deaths are provisional.
• Businesses in the EU member states 2024Number of businesses in all 27 EU member states, share of the EU total and businesses per 1,000 inhabitants.

Where the figures come from

All figures on these pages come from official statistics: for Germany from the statistical business register of the Federal Statistical Office (GENESIS 52111-0005, 52111-0010) and population statistics, for the EU from Eurostat. We retrieved the tables ourselves on 10/13/2026 and used them unrounded; our own values are only simple calculations based on them (shares, values per 1,000 inhabitants).

These are not figures from our dataset. They describe how many businesses exist – not how many of them would be included in a firmenkontaktdaten.de export or have a phone number. We state the scope of a specific selection in the quote.

What applies to all analyses

• Not every business is covered. For 2024, the business register only includes units with a turnover of more than 22,000 euros or at least one employee subject to social insurance contributions or in marginal employment (quality report). Micro-businesses below that threshold are missing, as are agriculture and public administration.
• Two ways of counting. “Legal units” count every GmbH, AG or sole proprietorship separately. “Enterprises (EU)” combine legal units that make decisions together, for example within a group. Each page states which method applies.
• 2024 is only partly comparable with earlier years. From reference year 2024, Destatis switched the employment data to the so-called job concept; this increases the number of units recorded. Destatis therefore does not consider a comparison of units with the previous year meaningful (note on the business register page).
• We do not interpret causes. The tables show levels and differences. Why a state or an industry performs differently cannot be read from them alone.

Using the figures

You may reuse the figures with attribution. Please cite the official source (Destatis or Eurostat) with table and date; each page contains a citation template for this. If you need a figure for a particular industry, region or size class that is missing here, write to info@firmenkontaktdaten.de.