Olan McEvoy
Research expert covering the European Union for society, economy, and politics.
Get in touch with us nowLargest companies in Europe
Based on the global number of employees, the Irish-American IT services and consulting firm Accenture was the largest company in Europe in 2023. The company is globally active, with its headquarters based in Dublin, meaning that a large share of its employees are in fact based outside of Europe. Volkswagen, Germany's largest car manufacturer, was the second largest employer in Europe, with its Wolfsburg headquarters employing 60,000 alone, with numerous other large factories in central and eastern Europe. In terms of revenue, the largest European company was the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas giant, Royal Dutch Shell, with annual revenues of 352.11 billion U.S dollars. Overall, Germany had the highest number of large businesses that employed 250 or more people in the European Union, at 11,600, far more than the second-highest country, France which had just 3,600. As a share of the total number of companies, large businesses made up just 0.2 percent of the European business population, with the vast majority of businesses being small and medium-sized ones that employed fewer than 250 people.Which country has the best business environment?
According to the Ease of Doing Business Index from the World Bank, Denmark was the highest ranking country in Europe, implying that it had the best regulatory environment on the continent. The UK had the second highest ranking, and was followed by Norway in third place, and Sweden in fourth. The index measures a variety of factors, including the average number of days that it takes to register a company, which ranges from three and a half days in Denmark, Estonia, and the Netherlands, to 80 days in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Austria, while only achieving thirteenth place in the Ease of Doing Business ranking, is home to the oldest company in Europe, a restaurant called the Stiftskeller St. Peter, operating within the walls of a church in Salzburg for more than 1,200 years.
