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.
| Total11 | SMEs11 | SME-Share11 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of enterprises | |||
| Enterprises according to business register 202092 | 701 797 | 696 484 | 99.2% |
| Enterprises liable to VAT 20203 | 612 557 | 609 353 | 99.5% |
| Enterprise turnover | |||
| Turnover of enterprises liable to VAT 20203 (in €) | 1 503.00 bn | 521.84 bn | 34.7% |
| Employees/Apprentices in enterprises and companies | |||
| Employees enterprises according to business register 20202 | 8.08 m | 4.20 m | 51.9% |
| Employees subject to social insurance contributions in local establishments (incl. apprentices) (31.12.2020)4 | 6.69 m | 4.46 m | 66.7% |
| Apprentices in local establishments (31.12.200)4,5 | 0.35 m | 0.25 m | 70.9% |
| Self-employed | |||
| Self-employed total 20206 | 691 000 | ||
| thereof: Self-employed in liberal professions (01.01.2021)7 | 284 400 | ||
| Self-employment rate 20206, 8 | 8.0% | ||
| © IfM Bonn |
Sources: Federal Statistical Office; Federal Employment Agency; Institute for Liberal Professions Nuremberg; Calculations by IfM Bonn, 07/2022.