About 8.4 million people worked in the EU’s agricultural sector in 2023, as the share of agriculture in total employment continued to fall across every member state.
The figure covers employment in agriculture, hunting and related service activities, according to a report issued by Eurostat on Friday.
Agriculture accounted for 3.9% of the EU workforce in 2023, down from 5.2% in 2013.
The drop came as the number of farms declined and labour-saving technologies such as mechanisation and automation were adopted.
Between 2013 and 2023, agriculture’s share of total employment fell in every EU country.
Biggest falls in Romania, Croatia and Portugal
Romania recorded the largest decrease over the decade, with agriculture’s share of total employment down 8.9 percentage points.
Croatia and Portugal had the next-largest declines, each down 4.7 percentage points over the same period.
The data are included in the “Key figures on the European food chain — 2025 edition”, which traces food from farm to fork.
