Multinational enterprise groups controlled by EU or EFTA countries

In 2023, 151 004 multinational enterprise groups were operating in the EU and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, employing 49.0 million people. In the EU, multinational enterprise groups employed 29.3% of people working in the business economy including industry, construction and services.

Among multinational enterprise groups controlled by EU or EFTA countries, 15 484 were controlled from Germany (making 10.3% of all multinational enterprise groups operating in the EU and EFTA), 13 372 were from the Netherlands (8.9%) and 10 897 from Switzerland (7.2%).

When considering countries outside the EU and EFTA, most multinational enterprise groups in the EU and EFTA were controlled by the United Kingdom (13 959 multinational enterprise groups), the United States (8 288) and China (2 621).