Structure of multinational enterprise groups in the EU

Data extracted in April 2024.

Planned article update: 30 April 2025.

Highlights

In 2022, multinational enterprise groups employed over 47 million people in EU-EFTA countries – around 28 % of people employed in Europe worked for a multinational enterprise group. The majority of them, 82 %, worked in a small number of large multinational enterprise groups.

Multinational enterprise groups and employment in EU-EFTA countries by controlling area, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_mne) and (egr_mne_empw)

This article gives an overview of multinational enterprise groups operating in EU countries and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries in 2022, according to the data available in the EuroGroups Register (EGR).

In 2022, according to the EGR:

146 427 multinational enterprise groups operated in EU and EFTA countries.
They employed over 47 million people – around 28 % of the people in the European business economy worked for a multinational enterprise group.
Most of these people worked for a multinational enterprise group controlled by an EU or EFTA country (76 % and 7 % respectively). The majority worked in a small number of large groups employing more than 1000 persons (82 %) carrying on more than 5 economic activities (73 %) and present in more than 6 EU-EFTA countries (64 %).

The EGR brings together microdata on multinational enterprise groups from the national statistical business registers in EU and EFTA countries, in line with the requirements in Regulation (EU) No 2152/2019, and from a commercial data source for data outside the EU and EFTA.

In 2022, the EGR contained information on:

the structure of control (who controls whom) of the 146 427 multinational enterprise groups with activities in the EU and EFTA
their main economic characteristics (employment, NACE, turnover and assets)
their perimeter in terms of legal units (1.4 million) and enterprises (535 500 enterprises inside EU and EFTA countries and 492 500 enterprises outside the EU and EFTA).

Each legal unit in the EGR uses a single identifier (based on a country code and a national identifier), allowing this microdata to be linked with other statistical or administrative data.

The EGR is updated annually, and the microdata are sent to national statistical authorities, national central banks and the European Central Bank. They can only use this data for statistical purposes. On average, about 530 statisticians access the EGR online applications each year.

Full article

Multinational enterprise groups operating in the EU and EFTA countries

In the EGR a multinational enterprise group is defined as an enterprise group that operates in at least two countries, with one of these being in the EU or EFTA.

For the reference year 2022, the EGR includes 146 427 multinational enterprise groups operating in EU and EFTA countries, composed of:

over 1.4 million legal units
535 400 enterprises in the EU and EFTA countries employing over 47 million people (i.e. around 28 % of the people working in the Business economy)
492 500 enterprises outside the EU and EFTA.

The number of multinational enterprise groups in EGR increased by 17 % in 2021 and 10 % in 2022 compared with 2018 (see Figure 1). The trend is highly impacted by the variation of groups of a very small size. However, the increase in 2021 was also due to the implementation of the EBS Regulation (EU) No 2152/2019, which expanded the coverage of legal units.

Figure 1: Multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA countries by controlling area, 2018-2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_mne)

Who controls multinational enterprise groups operating in the EU and EFTA?

This article describes the main structural characteristics of multinational enterprise groups with activities in the EU and EFTA, looking at their country of control, size, economic activity and geographical presence in the EU and EFTA, and worldwide.

In 2022, 73 % of the multinational enterprise groups operating in the EU and EFTA were controlled by an EU country (64 %) or an EFTA country (9 %). Together, they employed 83 % of the total workforce of multinational enterprise groups in the EU and EFTA.

The remaining 27 %, employing 17 % of the workforce of these groups, were controlled by countries outside the EU and EFTA (see Figure 2 and Maps 1 and 2)

Figure 2: Multinational enterprise groups and employment in EU-EFTA countries by controlling area, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_mne) and (egr_mne_empw)

Between 2018 and 2022, the distribution of multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA countries by controlling area is rather stable (see Figure 3). The EU ranked first accounting for 64 % to 66 % of the multinational enterprise group, EFTA accounted for 9 % to 10 %, and the rest of the world for 23 % to 27 %.

Figure 3: Multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA by controlling area, 2018-2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_mne)

The control of a multinational enterprise group in the EGR is assigned to the country of the Ultimate Controlling Institutional unit (UCI).

Map 1: multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA by country of control, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register

More than 130 countries outside the EU and EFTA controlled at least one multinational enterprise group operating in the EU and EFTA (see Map 2).

Map 2: Multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA controlled by extra-EU countries, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register

According to the EGR, in 2022, the three countries outside the EU and EFTA that controlled the most multinational enterprise groups in the EU and EFTA are:

the United Kingdom (more than 14 900 multinational enterprise groups)
the United States (around 7 500 multinational enterprise groups)
China including Hong Kong (around 2 700 multinational enterprise groups).

In 2022, the EGR recorded 469 multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA that were controlled by a Russian UCI and employed around 45 300 people in EU-EFTA countries. Moreover, around 3 400 multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA had legal units in Russia.

In 2022, according to EGR, 204 multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA were controlled by Ukraine and employed around 8 100 people in EU-EFTA countries. Moreover, around 1 200 multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA had legal units in Ukraine.

Figure 4 provides a breakdown of employment in multinational enterprise groups in the EU and EFTA by controlling area, i.e. with a controlling unit (UCI) in the same country, in other EU-EFTA countries or in extra-EU countries.

Figure 4: Employment in multinational enterprise groups in the EU-EFTA countries by controlling area, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register

Multinational enterprise groups in the EU and EFTA are mainly active in the manufacturing sector, and employment is concentrated in a small number of MNE groups

In 2022, multinational enterprise groups operating in the EU and EFTA countries carried out a large variety of economic activities, covering 21 NACE sections and 88 NACE divisions, according to the EGR.

Figure 5: Employment in multinational enterprise groups in EU-EFTA countries by group main activity, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_mne_empw)

The three economic activities with the largest employment at NACE section level are:

manufacturing (35 %)
wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (16 %)
financial and insurance activities (8 %).

Within manufacturing, the top three activities at NACE division level (see Figure 5) are:

manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailer (5 %)
manufacture of machinery and equipment (5 %)
manufacture of food products (3 %).

Employment is highly concentrated in some economic sectors and in some few very large multinational groups, as shown by the Lorentz curve in Figure 6. The more the curve departs from the diagonal, the more employment is concentrated in a reduced number of multinational groups, i.e. if the employment in the MNE groups were equally distributed, the curve would follow the straight diagonal. More information about industry concentration of multinational enterprise groups can be found here industry concentration indices

Figure 6: Concentration of the employment in multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA countries by group main activity, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register

Large and diversified multinational enterprise groups are the biggest employers

In the 2022 EGR:

6 % of the largest multinational enterprise groups (employing more than 1000 persons) operating in the EU and EFTA countries, accounted for 82 % of the employment in the MNE groups (employ 82 % of the persons employed in the MNE groups in EU-EFTA contries)
68 % of the smallest (employing fewer than 50 persons), recorded share of 2 % in the employment (see Figure 7).

Figure 7: Multinational enterprise groups and employment in EU-EFTA countries by group size, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_emp) and (egr_mne_n2sc)

According to the EGR, in 2022, multinational enterprise groups employed more than 47 million people in EU-EFTA countries as compared with 42 million in 2018. The multinational enterprise groups increased their employment in Europe either by extending their control on attractive enterprises– e.g. via acquisitions, by creating new jobs in their enterprises, or by creating new enterprises.

Figure 8: People employed by a multinational enterprise group in EU-EFTA countries, 2018-2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_emp)

However, the share of the people working in multinational enterprise groups in the EU is rather stable (see Figure 9). It accounted for around 31 % in 2018 and 2019, 32 % in 2020, and a slight drop to 28 % could be observed in in 2021 and 2022. In 2021, a break in series was recorded caused by the extended scope of the NACE sections used for the total employment (i.e. the denominator). Since 2021, the total employment encompassed the employment in the NACE activity sections B to S (excluding O and S94), while before 2021 only the non-financial business economy was covered (NACE sections from B to N excluding K).

Figure 9: Share of people employed by a multinational enterprise group in EU-EFTA countries in the business economy, 2018-2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_emp)

Between 2018 and 2022, in European countries, the percentage of people working in multinational enterprise groups in the total business economy employment remained stable as well, as shown in Figure 9B. However, the percent level varies from country to country, ranging from less than 15 % in Greece to more than 50 % in Luxembourg.

Figure 9B: Share of people employed by a multinational enterprise group in EU-EFTA countries in the business economy, 2018-2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_emp)

Between 2018 and 2022, the concentration of employment in the largest multinational enterprise groups was high and steady (see Figure 10), the largest MNE groups ranked first, gathering 82 % of the persons employed by the MNE groups in EU-EFTA countries.

Figure 10: Employment in multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA by group size, 2018-2022
Source: EuroGroups Register (egr_mne_empw)

In 2022, most multinational enterprise groups recorded in the EGR carried out more than one economic activity (57 %).

43 % carried out only one activity (mono-active groups)
49 % carried out 2-4 economic activities
8 % carried out more than 5 economic activities.

In the EGR, the diversification of a multinational enterprise group is determined by the number of activities carried out by its enterprises at NACE division level.

Most of the employment (73 %) was concentrated in the multinational enterprise groups carrying out more than 5 economic activities (see Figure 11).

Figure 11: Multinational enterprise groups operating in EU-EFTA by diversification of activities, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register

Most of the multinational enterprise groups with activities in the EU and EFTA have operations only inside the borders of EU-EFTA area

In 2022, 59 % of the multinational enterprise groups operating in the EU and EFTA operated only within the borders of the EU-EFTA area; while 41 % of them also operated in the rest of the world.

In 2022, the EGR recorded that:

4 % of multinational enterprise groups active in the EU and EFTA area are present in 6 or more EU and EFTA countries, employing 64 % of the people working in multinational enterprise group in the EU and EFTA.
13 % of multinational enterprise groups were present in between 3 and 5 EU and EFTA countries, employing 19 % of persons employed.
83 % of multinational enterprise groups were present in fewer than 3 EU and EFTA countries, employing 17 % of persons employed (see Figure 12).

Figure 12: Multinational enterprise groups by presence in EU-EFTA countries, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register

Presence of European multinational enterprise groups in countries outside the EU and EFTA, in 2022

In 2022, the EGR recorded around 22 000 multinational enterprise groups controlled by EU and EFTA countries having legal units located in non-EU-EFTA countries.

20 % of these multinational enterprise groups had at least one legal unit in the United Kingdom
10 % of them operated in the United States (see Map 3).

Map 3: Worldwide presence of multinational enterprise groups controlled by EU-EFTA countries, 2022
Source: EuroGroups Register

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Data sources

The EuroGroups register (EGR) database is the source of the above-mentioned multinational enterprise groups data. The EGR is the statistical business register of the EU Member States and EFTA countries for multinational enterprise groups. It produces data in yearly cycles and covers microdata on the groups and their consisting enterprises and legal units.

The EGR aims to register all multinational enterprise groups that have enterprises in EU Member States or EFTA countries, including European and non-European groups. EGR does not cover all-resident enterprise groups – those that consist of enterprises only in 1 country, nor independent enterprises.

However, the EGR final frame includes additional foreign-controlled units. These are either single legal units or all-resident enterprise groups without an identified foreign-controlling parent, where only the residence country of the foreign parent has been delivered to the EGR. Such additional foreign-controlled units are not included in this article.

The EGR microdata help explore to the structure and impact of multinational enterprise groups in Europe. We can analyze group size, complexity and employment patterns in European countries, together with their European influence.

The EGR makes it possible to present results from two sides: from the multinational enterprise group perspective, based on the country of control of the group, and from the national perspective of the country in which the group is located, irrespective of where the UCI is located.

The EGR is a statistical business register that serves statistical purposes only. Access to EGR data is restricted to national statistical institutes and national central banks that produce official statistics in the EU Member States and EFTA countries.

Context

Globalisation and the increasing complexity of multinational enterprise group activities means it is difficult to produce business statistics and macroeconomic statistics and correctly and consistently reflect MNE group activities in European statistics. To better analyse cross-border transactions of large multinational enterprise groups and correctly record them in statistical business registers, statisticians in the European Statistical System European Statistical System (ESS) and European System of Central Banks (ESCB) need to be able to observe the complete and correct economic structures of multinational enterprise groups.