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Business in Ireland 2020

International Comparisons

In 2019, Ireland's largest sector for active enterprises was Services, accounting for 51.3% of all enterprises

Online ISSN: 2009-6895

CSO statistical publication, 02 November 2022, 11am

In June 2022, the CSO transmitted revised results for Turnover, gross value added (GVA), and gross operating surplus (GOS) in Construction for the year 2019 following implementation of a new methodology. At the time of publication, these revised results have yet to be included in Eurostat table [sbs_na_sca_r2]. In this release, the CSO has used the revised results, and applied a parallel adjustment to the European total to reflect the revisions to the Irish data.

In September 2021, the CSO retransmitted Business Demography results for 2019 following a revision. At the time of publication, these revised results have yet to be included in Eurostat table [bd_9bd_sz_cl_rs]. In this release, the CSO has substituted in the revised Irish results, to compile the EU27 total.

Data for EU27 for Business Demography will be published by Eurostat shortly. See Eurostat website for updates.

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 EU27. The reference year used for the EU data is 2019 as data for 2020 is incomplete for some countries. Irish data used in this chapter is for 2019 for comparison purposes. Data is available on the Eurostat website.

Business Demography

The data for Business Demography are based on the CSO Central Business Register. The Business Register is a register of all enterprises that are active in the State. There is no lower size limit, but for practical reasons, Business Demography data are based on enterprises that are registered with the Revenue Commissioners. New businesses are identified by Employer, Corporation Tax, or Income Tax registrations.

Percentage Share of Active Enterprises by Sector

In 2019, Ireland's largest sector for active enterprises was the Services sector accounting for 51.3% of all enterprises. This was higher than the EU average of 49.0%
Ireland had the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU for Construction, 21.7% of enterprises
The EU average for the share of total enterprises for Construction was 14.7%. Bulgaria had the smallest percentage share in Construction at 6.0%

	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	2.1	21.2	17.3	53.4	6
Bulgaria	1.2	40.7	6	42.4	9.7
Czechia	2.2	21	17.1	41.1	18.6
Denmark	3.8	17.3	14.4	56.1	8.4
Germany	2.4	21.6	14	50.8	11.1
Estonia	1.3	21.3	14.1	53.2	10.2
IRELAND	3	17.2	21.7	51.3	6.8
Greece	2.3	31	8.9	48.6	9.2
Spain	2.8	26.2	15.2	49	6.8
France	2.1	23.2	16.9	49.8	7.9
Croatia	0.8	20.3	12.6	53	13.2
Italy	2.4	28.5	13	45.5	10.6
Cyprus	5.1	28.2	14.8	43.1	8.9
Latvia	1.8	23.1	10.3	53.9	10.8
Lithuania	1.9	26	14.9	46.9	10.3
Luxembourg	4.6	20.9	12.1	59.8	2.6
Hungary	3.5	20.8	14.1	52.7	8.8
Malta	1.7	25.9	12.9	52.1	7.4
Netherlands	2.4	20	15.5	56.2	5.9
Austria	2.5	22.6	9.8	56.3	8.8
Poland	3	26.1	17.2	41.5	12.2
Portugal	1.5	23.3	9.6	57.6	8.1
Romania	1.6	34.9	10.5	42.5	10.6
Slovenia	1.3	17.4	13.1	53.7	14.6
Slovakia	2.5	20.3	20.9	40.4	15.9
Finland	2.2	17.2	16.2	54.5	9.8
Sweden	2.2	17.3	14.5	58.3	7.7

Percentage Share of Persons Employed by Sector

Industry accounted for 15.2% of the total number of persons employed in the business economy in Ireland in 2019. There were only five countries with a lower percentage: Luxembourg (10.8%), Netherlands (12.8%), Cyprus (13.0%), Malta (14.0%), and Greece (15.0%)
Ireland's largest sector for employment was Services at 47.2%. This was higher than the EU27 average of 40.4%

	Financial	Distribution	Construction	Services	Industry
Belgium	3.9	21.6	10.7	46	17.8
Bulgaria	3.1	24.9	7.5	34.4	30.1
Czechia	2.7	18.6	9.8	31.9	37
Denmark	4.4	24.9	9.7	42.4	18.6
Germany	3.7	20.6	8	38	29.7
Estonia	2.4	20.7	11.2	39.1	26.6
IRELAND	6.1	22.4	9.1	47.2	15.2
Greece	2.8	27.1	6.1	48.9	15
Spain	2.9	24.4	10.5	44.9	17.4
France	4.8	21.8	12	42.7	18.8
Croatia	3.4	21.2	10.4	36.4	28.5
Italy	3.5	21.9	8.4	40.2	26
Cyprus	7.2	24	11.2	44.7	13
Latvia	2.2	23.3	10.8	42.3	21.4
Lithuania	2.2	23.4	10.9	39.4	24
Luxembourg	12.5	16	14.3	46.4	10.8
Hungary	1.5	19.4	9.6	41.5	28
Malta	5.3	20.9	7.2	52.5	14
Netherlands	3.2	25	7.8	51.2	12.8
Austria	3.9	22	10.1	40.9	23
Poland	3.5	23.4	10.3	30.4	32.4
Portugal	2.5	22.2	9.7	43.6	22
Romania	2.2	23.4	9.6	33.6	31.2
Slovenia	2.9	17.6	10.6	34	34.9
Slovakia	2.9	20.2	10.5	33.9	32.6
Finland	2.8	18	13	43.9	22.2
Sweden	2.9	19.9	12.5	45.5	19.2

Business Operations

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 EU27 comparison purposes and it is not possible to include the Financial and Insurance Activities sector.

Selected EU Countries Share of GVA by Sector

The Manufacturing sector in Ireland accounted for the highest share of total GVA in 2019 (45.3%)
The Construction sector in Ireland had the lowest share of total GVA at 3.5%
The Services sector accounted for 40.5% of total GVA in Ireland in 2019

	Services (ex. Finance)	Distribution	Construction	Manufacturing
IRELAND	40.5	10.6	3.5	45.3
Germany	38	18.4	7.3	36.3
Italy	38	20.1	7.3	34.6
Spain	44.8	22.1	9.4	23.7
France	44.9	19.4	10.4	25.3
Netherlands	47.8	24.4	8.6	19.3

GVA per Person Employed by Country

Ireland recorded the highest GVA per person employed in the EU27 for 2019 (€151,600), the next highest was Luxembourg, which reported €91,600 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 €63,880, a level similar to France and Finland

	GVA per person employed
IRELAND (all enterprises)	151600
Luxembourg	91600
Denmark	90000
Belgium	82200
Sweden	68800
Austria	67600
Netherlands	66500
Finland	64900
France	64500
IRELAND (indigenous)	63880
Germany	59000
Italy	48700
Malta	41700
Spain	41600
Slovenia	37100
Cyprus	36000
Estonia	31500
Czechia	30000
Poland	25400
Hungary	25200
Portugal	25200
Croatia	24000
Slovakia	23900
Lithuania	22000
Latvia	21400
Romania	19600
Greece	19200
Bulgaria	15200

Gross Operating Surplus (GOS) as a Percentage of Turnover by Country

GOS as a percentage of turnover in Ireland was 23.2% in 2019, the highest profitability rate in the EU27
If foreign-owned enterprises were excluded from Irish data, the GOS figure would fall to 16.2%

	Gross Operating Surplus as a percentage of turnover
IRELAND (all enterprises)	23.2
IRELAND (indigenous)	16.2
Malta	14.9
Denmark	13
Croatia	12.4
Cyprus	12.2
Italy	11.3
Netherlands	11.3
Poland	11.2
Belgium	11
Hungary	11
Romania	10.8
Slovenia	10.3
Austria	10
Bulgaria	9.9
Czechia	9.9
Lithuania	9.9
Germany	9.8
Latvia	9.5
Sweden	9.5
Spain	9.4
Portugal	9.2
Finland	8.9
Estonia	8.2
Slovakia	8.1
Greece	7.7
France	6.9
Luxembourg	5.6

9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019

9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019

9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019

9.4 Share of gross value added across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019

9.5 Gross value added per person employed across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019

9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU27 countries, 2019

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Table 9.3 Share of turnover across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019
	Gross value added	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin)¹	Total
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU27)	24,653.4	31.8	6.9	36.6	24.7	100.0
Belgium	1,067.5	25.6	7.1	45.9	21.3	100.0
Bulgaria	141.0	26.2	6.2	48.7	19.0	100.0
Czechia	497.1	39.0	7.2	33.7	20.1	100.0
Denmark	513.2	24.5	7.6	36.2	31.7	100.0
Germany	6,314.1	37.9	5.3	33.6	23.2	100.0
Estonia	66.5	20.7	9.4	46.2	23.7	100.0
Ireland	784.1	34.8	3.6	24.6	37.1	100.0
Greece	241.5	25.2	4.4	46.4	24.0	100.0
Spain	2,017.1	27.8	7.8	38.8	25.7	100.0
France	3,765.8	28.4	8.8	36.7	26.1	100.0
Croatia	91.1	24.8	8.6	42.3	24.3	100.0
Italy	2,789.9	35.7	5.9	36.0	22.4	100.0
Cyprus	35.8	11.3	12.1	37.2	39.3	100.0
Latvia	58.6	16.2	8.3	50.7	24.8	100.0
Lithuania	94.5	24.7	7.3	42.8	25.2	100.0
Luxembourg	194.4	7.2	4.7	44.1	44.0	100.0
Hungary	321.6	37.4	7.5	33.2	21.8	100.0
Malta	25.3	11.0	6.0	38.9	44.1	100.0
Netherlands	1,639.3	23.0	7.0	43.7	26.3	100.0
Austria	703.7	31.8	8.0	36.1	24.0	100.0
Poland	1,104.0	33.7	8.1	39.0	19.2	100.0
Portugal	363.6	26.7	6.4	41.7	25.2	100.0
Romania	317.8	32.2	7.5	40.4	19.9	100.0
Slovenia	95.9	33.2	6.6	38.7	21.5	100.0
Slovakia	200.4	41.1	6.3	30.4	22.2	100.0
Finland	392.8	35.1	10.1	30.0	24.7	100.0
Sweden	816.8	27.8	10.1	33.0	29.1	100.0
*Source*: Eurostat @ 28.09.22 and CSO Structural Business Statistics
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).

Table 9.4 Share of gross value added across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019
	Gross value added	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin)¹	Total
	€ billions	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU27)	6,478.1	30.9	8.4	19.8	40.9	100.0
Belgium	239.3	26.5	8.4	23.4	41.6	100.0
Bulgaria	29.3	28.5	7.3	23.5	40.6	100.0
Czechia	109.6	40.1	7.6	18.5	33.8	100.0
Denmark	158.2	26.1	8.4	18.9	46.6	100.0
Germany	1,816.4	36.3	7.3	18.4	38.0	100.0
Estonia	13.6	25.3	10.4	20.4	43.9	100.0
Ireland	243.9	45.3	3.5	10.6	40.5	100.0
Greece	49.5	24.1	4.2	26.9	44.7	100.0
Spain	529.0	23.7	9.4	22.1	44.8	100.0
France	992.7	25.3	10.4	19.4	44.9	100.0
Croatia	25.4	27.6	8.4	23.6	40.3	100.0
Italy	722.7	34.6	7.3	20.1	38.0	100.0
Cyprus	10.1	13.1	11.5	20.9	54.6	100.0
Latvia	13.2	21.5	9.5	23.9	45.1	100.0
Lithuania	21.8	25.4	9.1	24.1	41.4	100.0
Luxembourg	26.8	11.5	12.4	20.2	56.0	100.0
Hungary	71.5	36.7	8.7	18.5	36.2	100.0
Malta	7.0	13.1	8.2	15.8	62.9	100.0
Netherlands	401.6	19.3	8.6	24.4	47.8	100.0
Austria	197.2	31.6	10.2	19.9	38.3	100.0
Poland	242.5	35.4	10.0	22.3	32.3	100.0
Portugal	88.3	25.5	8.4	22.6	43.4	100.0
Romania	76.4	30.7	9.9	24.2	35.1	100.0
Slovenia	24.2	37.9	8.0	19.8	34.4	100.0
Slovakia	38.3	37.8	6.9	19.1	36.3	100.0
Finland	99.6	28.8	11.8	16.5	42.9	100.0
Sweden	230.4	25.9	11.2	18.3	44.5	100.0
*Source*: Eurostat @ 28.09.22 and CSO Structural Business Statistics
¹Services 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 EU27 countries, 2019
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin)¹	All sectors
	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's	€000's
European Union (EU27)	66.3	43.1	43.5	47.7	50.7
Belgium	122.0	60.3	90.6	69.4	82.2
Bulgaria	15.4	13.8	13.3	16.6	15.2
Czechia	33.4	21.8	28.1	29.9	30.0
Denmark	130.3	72.6	64.4	92.9	90.0
Germany	80.0	50.0	50.8	51.8	59.0
Estonia	30.9	27.1	29.5	34.3	31.5
Ireland	462.2	54.7	66.3	120.4	151.6
Greece	33.9	14.8	17.5	16.7	19.2
Spain	60.8	37.3	36.3	38.9	41.6
France	80.1	58.6	57.3	62.4	64.5
Croatia	25.2	17.9	24.6	24.6	24.0
Italy	65.7	39.8	42.5	43.6	48.7
Cyprus	37.1	33.6	28.6	40.3	36.0
Latvia	23.9	17.9	20.7	21.6	21.4
Lithuania	25.0	17.4	21.5	22.0	22.0
Luxembourg	88.4	67.8	99.4	97.1	91.6
Hungary	33.1	22.9	22.3	21.9	25.2
Malta	39.1	43.7	29.2	47.2	41.7
Netherlands	105.4	69.9	62.0	59.4	66.5
Austria	90.0	61.1	57.3	62.3	67.6
Poland	29.6	22.8	22.3	24.8	25.4
Portugal	30.2	21.0	24.7	24.1	25.2
Romania	19.5	18.6	20.2	19.5	19.6
Slovenia	41.6	26.3	39.2	35.2	37.1
Slovakia	28.2	14.6	21.5	24.3	23.9
Finland	83.1	55.8	55.6	62.6	64.9
Sweden	91.3	59.0	60.5	65.8	68.8
*Source:* Eurostat @ 28.09.22 and CSO Structural Business Statistics
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).

Business in Ireland 2020

International Comparisons

International Comparisons

In 2019, Ireland's largest sector for active enterprises was Services, accounting for 51.3% of all enterprises

Business Demography

Percentage Share of Active Enterprises by Sector

Percentage Share of Persons Employed by Sector

Business Operations

Selected EU Countries Share of GVA by Sector

GVA per Person Employed by Country

Gross Operating Surplus (GOS) as a Percentage of Turnover by Country

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Table 9.1 Share of active enterprises across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019
	Total active enterprises	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	Total
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU27)	25,939	9.6	14.7	24.4	49.0	2.4	100.0
Belgium	699	6.0	17.3	21.2	53.4	2.1	100.0
Bulgaria	350	9.7	6.0	40.7	42.4	1.2	100.0
Czechia	1,074	18.6	17.1	21.0	41.1	2.2	100.0
Denmark	236	8.4	14.4	17.3	56.1	3.8	100.0
Germany	2,733	11.1	14.0	21.6	50.8	2.4	100.0
Estonia	95	10.2	14.1	21.3	53.2	1.3	100.0
Ireland	273	6.8	21.7	17.2	51.3	3.0	100.0
Greece	826	9.2	8.9	31.0	48.6	2.3	100.0
Spain	3,097	6.8	15.2	26.2	49.0	2.8	100.0
France	4,253	7.9	16.9	23.2	49.8	2.1	100.0
Croatia	182	13.2	12.6	20.3	53.0	0.8	100.0
Italy	3,752	10.6	13.0	28.5	45.5	2.4	100.0
Cyprus	61	8.9	14.8	28.2	43.1	5.1	100.0
Latvia	113	10.8	10.3	23.1	53.9	1.8	100.0
Lithuania	222	10.3	14.9	26.0	46.9	1.9	100.0
Luxembourg	35	2.6	12.1	20.9	59.8	4.6	100.0
Hungary	641	8.8	14.1	20.8	52.7	3.5	100.0
Malta	38	7.4	12.9	25.9	52.1	1.7	100.0
Netherlands	1,316	5.9	15.5	20.0	56.2	2.4	100.0
Austria	421	8.8	9.8	22.6	56.3	2.5	100.0
Poland	2,064	12.2	17.2	26.1	41.5	3.0	100.0
Portugal	939	8.1	9.6	23.3	57.6	1.5	100.0
Romania	748	10.6	10.5	34.9	42.5	1.6	100.0
Slovenia	150	14.6	13.1	17.4	53.7	1.3	100.0
Slovakia	522	15.9	20.9	20.3	40.4	2.5	100.0
Finland	306	9.8	16.2	17.2	54.5	2.2	100.0
Sweden	794	7.7	14.5	17.3	58.3	2.2	100.0
*Source*: Eurostat @ 11.10.22 and CSO Business Demography

Table 9.2 Share of persons employed across broad sectors in EU27 countries, 2019
	Total persons employed	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial & Insurance	Total
	000's	%	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU27)	133,809	24.4	9.6	22.1	40.4	3.5	100.0
Belgium	3,272	17.8	10.7	21.6	46.0	3.9	100.0
Bulgaria	2,076	30.1	7.5	24.9	34.4	3.1	100.0
Czechia	3,879	37.0	9.8	18.6	31.9	2.7	100.0
Denmark	1,879	18.6	9.7	24.9	42.4	4.4	100.0
Germany	29,188	29.7	8.0	20.6	38.0	3.7	100.0
Estonia	481	26.6	11.2	20.7	39.1	2.4	100.0
Ireland	1,741	15.2	9.1	22.4	47.2	6.1	100.0
Greece	3,244	15.0	6.1	27.1	48.9	2.8	100.0
Spain	13,264	17.4	10.5	24.4	44.9	2.9	100.0
France	16,947	18.8	12.0	21.8	42.7	4.8	100.0
Croatia	1,147	28.5	10.4	21.2	36.4	3.4	100.0
Italy	15,726	26.0	8.4	21.9	40.2	3.5	100.0
Cyprus	306	13.0	11.2	24.0	44.7	7.2	100.0
Latvia	650	21.4	10.8	23.3	42.3	2.2	100.0
Lithuania	1,040	24.0	10.9	23.4	39.4	2.2	100.0
Luxembourg	364	10.8	14.3	16.0	46.4	12.5	100.0
Hungary	3,074	28.0	9.6	19.4	41.5	1.5	100.0
Malta	186	14.0	7.2	20.9	52.5	5.3	100.0
Netherlands	6,308	12.8	7.8	25.0	51.2	3.2	100.0
Austria	3,224	23.0	10.1	22.0	40.9	3.9	100.0
Poland	10,361	32.4	10.3	23.4	30.4	3.5	100.0
Portugal	3,647	22.0	9.7	22.2	43.6	2.5	100.0
Romania	4,416	31.2	9.6	23.4	33.6	2.2	100.0
Slovenia	695	34.9	10.6	17.6	34.0	2.9	100.0
Slovakia	1,719	32.6	10.5	20.2	33.9	2.9	100.0
Finland	1,726	22.2	13.0	18.0	43.9	2.8	100.0
Sweden	3,251	19.2	12.5	19.9	45.5	2.9	100.0
*Source*: Eurostat @ 11.10.22 and CSO Business Demography

Table 9.6 Gross operating surplus as a percentage of turnover, EU27 countries, 2019
	Manufacturing	Construction	Distribution	Services (ex. Fin)¹	All sectors
	%	%	%	%	%
European Union (EU27)	9.5	10.7	5.6	17.6	10.2
Belgium	11.2	11.6	5.9	21.5	11.0
Bulgaria	10.7	12.2	5.2	20.1	9.9
Czechia	9.5	11.6	5.7	17.2	9.9
Denmark	15.4	8.6	5.1	21.3	13.0
Germany	7.3	12.3	6.1	18.7	9.8
Estonia	8.2	6.8	3.6	17.6	8.2
Ireland	35.4	14.1	7.1	23.3	23.2
Greece	8.7	8.0	3.9	13.9	7.7
Spain	8.7	9.2	5.1	16.8	9.4
France	6.2	6.6	3.6	12.3	6.9
Croatia	12.9	9.5	7.3	21.7	12.4
Italy	9.9	13.2	6.9	20.3	11.3
Cyprus	14.2	11.4	5.4	18.3	12.2
Latvia	13.0	8.9	4.7	17.3	9.5
Lithuania	9.8	9.0	5.9	17.2	9.9
Luxembourg	7.4	10.8	3.3	7.0	5.6
Hungary	10.7	16.7	6.3	16.6	11.0
Malta	14.5	25.9	5.0	22.2	14.9
Netherlands	9.2	13.2	6.9	20.0	11.3
Austria	9.0	8.6	5.3	18.8	10.0
Poland	11.4	16.6	6.3	18.2	11.2
Portugal	8.8	9.6	4.9	16.6	9.2
Romania	9.4	15.7	7.7	17.6	10.8
Slovenia	10.6	10.1	5.5	18.3	10.3
Slovakia	6.5	11.2	5.0	14.3	8.1
Finland	7.8	8.0	4.5	16.0	8.9
Sweden	10.1	7.7	4.7	14.9	9.5
*Source:* Eurostat @ 28.09.22 and CSO Structural Business Statistics
¹Services covers NACE sections H, I, J, L, M and N (excludes K, R and S).