Overview - Mittelstand
Small and medium-sized enterprises are the engine of the German economy. This is illustrated by statistical data on the macro-economic significance of SMEs and by SME key indicators for Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia (cf. the table below). The following data are based on SME definition by the European Commission.
Please note that we currently provide only a selection of the most important statistics on our English website.
For further statistics, please refer to our German section.
| Total1 | SMEs1 | SME-Share1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of enterprises | |||
| Enterprises according to business register 20192 | 735 924 | 730 591 | 99.3% |
| Enterprises liable to VAT 20193 | 666 813 | 663 554 | 99.5% |
| Enterprise turnover | |||
| Turnover of enterprises liable to VAT 20193 (in €) | 1 586.28 bn | 530.12 bn | 33.4% |
| Employees/Apprentices in enterprises and companies | |||
| Employees enterprises according to business register 20192 | 8.15 m | 4.25 m | 52.2% |
| Employees subject to social insurance contributions in local establishments (incl. apprentices) (31.12.2019)4 | 6.70 m | 4.47 m | 66.8% |
| Apprentices in local establishments (31.12.2019)4,5 | 0.36 m | 0.26 m | 71.7% |
| Self-employed | |||
| Self-employed total 20196 | 765 000 | ||
| thereof: Self-employed in liberal professions (01.01.2020)7 | 282 000 | ||
| Self-employment rate 20196, 8 | 8.7% | ||
| reporting: Self-employed except agriculture 20199 | 742 000 | ||
| Self-employment rate except agriculture 20198, 9 | 8.5% | ||
| © IfM Bonn |
Sources: Federal Statistical Office; Federal Employment Agency; Institute for Liberal Professions Nuremberg; Calculations by IfM Bonn, 09/2021.