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.

• In 2023, approx. 717 160 enterprises classified as small and medium-sized enterprises in North Rhine-Westphalia, accounting for 99.1% of the total number of enterprises with turnover from goods and services and/or employees.¹
• SMEs in North Rhine-Westphalia generated an annual turnover of approx. 602.26 bn € in 2023 which represents 29.7% of the total turnover of all enterprises subject to turnover tax in North Rhine-Westphalia (cf. Germany: 2 791.20 bn € and 30.8% of total turnover).^{2, 3}
• SMEs in North Rhine-Westphalia employed approx. 4.12 million employees in 2023, accounting for a share of 49.6% in total employment.¹
• Some 69.2% of all apprentices were trained by establishments with less than 250 employees subject to social insurance contributions at the end of 2023.¹