Businesses in the EU’s education sector

In 2021, the businesses in the EU’s education sector comprised a total of 855 700 enterprises, which represented 2.8% of all enterprises active in the business economy. The education sector includes enterprises falling under section P of the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE). 

Following the entry into force of the European Business Statistics (EBS) Regulation, Eurostat has extended the service coverage for structural business statistics (SBS) and is publishing, for the first time, SBS data on the education sector.

SBS only cover the activities of market producers. Contrary to most activities covered by SBS, non-market producers represent a significant part of the education sector. However, data in this article only covers market producers, meaning those acting under market conditions, active in this sector.

The education sector employed 2.4 million people, generated €65.2 billion in value added and accumulated a net turnover of €106.6 billion in 2021. The EU’s education sector contributed to 1.5% of the persons employed in the business economy in 2021 and accounted for 0.7% of its value added.

In 2021, the SBS data on the education sector showed varying contributions to the value added of the business economy across EU countries, ranging from 2.3% in Cyprus, 1.9% in Spain, and 1.3% in Sweden to 0.1% in Luxembourg and 0.2% in Romania.

Source dataset: sbs_ovw_act

In terms of employment, the sector's contribution to the business economy was higher. It ranged from 4.2% in Greece and 3.4% in Spain and Cyprus to as low as 0.5% in Luxembourg and 0.7% in Romania and Slovakia.