In 2022, radio broadcasting enterprises employed 30 000 persons in the EU and recorded a net turnover of €4 billion. Data for 2021 shows 5 000 enterprises operating as radio broadcasters across the EU.

Radio broadcasting in the EU, total numbers. Infographic. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: sbs_sc_ovw

In 2022, the top 5 countries by the number of radio broadcasting enterprises were Spain (714), Italy (679), Greece (599), France (343) and Portugal (299). At the other end of the range were Luxembourg (5), Estonia (9), Slovakia (14), Malta (19) and Lithuania (20).

Taking into account the population size of EU members, the ratio of radio broadcasting enterprises per million inhabitants varied significantly across countries. Slovenia recorded the highest ratio at 75 radio broadcasting enterprises per million inhabitants, followed by Greece (57), Malta (36), Cyprus and Croatia (35). Conversely, the lowest ratios were observed in Poland (2), Germany and Slovakia (both 3), Czechia (4), and Austria, France and Sweden (all 5).

Top 5 countries by number of enterprises and persons employed in radio broadcasting, total numbers, 2022. Bar chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: sbs_sc_ovw

The top 5 countries by the number of persons employed in the radio broadcasting sector in 2022 were recorded in Spain (5 550), Germany (5 010), France (2 815), Romania (2 510) and Italy (2 469), while the lowest numbers were observed in Slovakia (53), Lithuania (87), Czechia (100), Estonia (110) and Sweden (163).

The percentage of persons employed in the radio broadcasting sector relative to total employment is low across all EU members, ranging from 0.05% in Croatia and 0.04% in Slovenia, Cyprus and Greece, to almost zero in Czechia and Slovakia (both 0.002%) and Sweden (0.003%).

This news item marks the World Radio Day, celebrated on 13 February 2024. 

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Methodological notes

  • Number of enterprises: low reliability for 2021 data at EU level; 2022 data confidential at EU level; data confidential for Ireland. For the remaining EU members, data is provisional.
  • Number of persons employed and net turnover: data confidential for Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta. For the remaining EU members, data is provisional.

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