About 3.5 million new businesses were created across the EU in 2024, alongside 3.1 million closures.
The EU had about 34 million active enterprises in 2024, Eurostat reported on Thursday, putting the overall enterprise “birth rate” — the share of new firms among all active firms — at 10.4% and the “death rate” at 9.2%.
More businesses were created than dissolved in 19 of the EU’s 27 member states.
Closures outnumbered start-ups in Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
The highest enterprise birth rates were recorded in Lithuania (17.5%), Portugal (16.1%), Malta (14.4%) and France (14.2%).
The lowest were in Austria (6.3%), Denmark (7.2%) and Germany (7.8%).
Closures and fast-growing firms
The highest preliminary enterprise death rates were registered in Estonia (29.2%), Ireland (16.9%) and Lithuania (15.6%), according to Eurostat.
The lowest rates were in Greece (3.9%), Malta (4.4%) and Austria (5.3%).
Eurostat also reported 180,200 “high-growth enterprises” in 2024 — businesses with at least 10 employees at the start of a three-year period and average annual employee growth of more than 10%.
These firms accounted for 10.0% of EU enterprises with at least 10 employees and provided work for 14.1 million people.
