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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.

Key indicators based on SME definition by the European Commission

 Total11SMEs11SME-Share11
Number of enterprises   
Enterprises according to
business register 202092
701 797696 48499.2%
Enterprises liable to VAT 20203612 557609 35399.5%
Enterprise turnover   
Turnover of enterprises liable
to VAT 20203 (in €)
1 503.00 bn521.84 bn34.7%
Employees/Apprentices in
enterprises and companies
   
Employees enterprises according to
business register 20202
8.08 m4.20 m51.9%
Employees subject to social
insurance contributions in
local establishments (incl.
apprentices) (31.12.2020)4
6.69 m4.46 m66.7%
Apprentices in local
establishments (31.12.200)4,5
0.35 m0.25 m70.9%
Self-employed   
Self-employed total 20206691 000  
thereof:
Self-employed in liberal
professions (01.01.2021)7
284 400  
Self-employment rate
20206, 8
8.0%  
    © IfM Bonn

 

Notes

Sources: Federal Statistical Office; Federal Employment Agency; Institute for Liberal Professions Nuremberg; Calculations by IfM Bonn, 07/2022.

Updating

Key indicators are being updated on a regular basis. The update schedule depends on the availability of basic data from official/semi-official statistics published by statistical agencies and research institutes respectively. 

Contact Person

Researcher Simone Braun

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+49 228 72997 24
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