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Wissenschaft
IfM Bonn: In Germany, two out of three employees are employed in small or medium-sized enterprises
While there are less micro-enterprises with up to 9 employees in Germany than in other EU Member States, the share of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with 10 to 249 employees in the entire business population is higher. As a consequence, the average number of employees in German SMEs is considerably higher than in other EU countries. Compared to an EU average of 4.0 employees, the average employment size of German SMEs amounts to 7.7 employees (2015).
According to Eurostat estimates, 99.5 % of German enterprises can be classified in 2015 as SMEs. These companies employ 62.8 % of all employees and generate 53.1 % of total value added. The density of SMEs is, however, much lower in Germany than in other EU countries: While there are 2,749 SMEs per 100,000 inhabitants in Germany, the EU average is 4,517 SMEs. A particularly high density of SMEs can be found in the Czech Republic (9,419 SMEs), Por-tugal (7,550 SMEs) and Slovakia (7,522 SMEs).
Due to their strong competitiveness and dynamic growth on national and international markets, many successful German SMEs have been growing into large enterprises, though maintaining the typical characteristics of Mittelstand/family enterprises. From 2008 until 2015, for instance, the number of large German enterprises (according to Eurostat's Structural Business Statistics) has grown by 11%, while in the EU-28 (including Germany) their number has decreased by 1%.
On behalf of the European Commission, Eurostat compiles each year (widely) harmonised SME statistics for all 28 EU Member States. However, Eurostat's so-called "Structural Business Statistics" do not cover all economic sectors: i.e. not covered are agriculture and forestry; education and arts; human health and social work activities; arts, entertainment and recreation; other service activities; as well as financial and insurance activities. Thus, Eurostat's SME statistics clearly differ from IfM Bonn's German SME statistics which are based on the German company register and include all economic sectors with the exception of agriculture and forestry.
The EU-wide key figures are available on the website of the Institut für Mittel-standsforschung (IfM) Bonn (http://www.ifm-bonn.org/statistiken/mittelstand-im-einzelnen/#accordion=0&ta...) and are updated annually.
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