What EU country boasts the largest share of foreign-controlled businesses?

Luxembourg boasts the highest share of foreign-controlled businesses in the European Union, with 28% of all firms owned by non-domestic entities, new data from Eurostat has found.

Estonia boasts the second-highest share of foreign controlled businesses in the EU, at 11%, while in other member states, foreign-controlled enterprises represent less than 5% of the total, with shares ranging from as low as 0.3% in Poland and Italy to 5% in Croatia.

According to the data, overall, just 1% of European Union enterprises were under foreign control in 2023, with some 60% controlled by institutional entities from other EU countries, while 40% of owners resided outside the EU.

Value added by foreign-owned businesses

While the share of foreign-owned businesses is low in many EU countries, their contribution in terms of employment, and particularly value added, is ‘significant’, Eurostat said.

At an EU level foreign-owned businesses employ 16% of the working population, and their share of total value added represents 24% of the EU total.

In several member states, their influence is particularly notable – in Ireland, for example, value added by foreign-controlled enterprises represents 71% of the total, followed by Luxembourg (61%) and Slovakia (50%).

In terms of employees, meanwhile, foreign-controlled enterprises represented close to half (45%) of jobs in Luxembourg, followed by 28% in both Slovakia and Czechia.

As regards the total number of foreign-owned businesses operating in each EU member state, Germany boasts the highest number of foreign-controlled enterprises, with more than 38,000, followed by Romania and Czechia. Read more here.

Number of Foreign-Controlled Enterprises by EU Member State

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