Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Unit G2 - European Businesses

BECH Building, 
5, rue Alphonse Weicker, L-2721 Luxembourg

Structural business statistics (SBS) describes the structure, conduct and performance of economic activities, down to the most detailed activity level (several hundred economic sectors).
The EU Member States transmit SBS annually to the European Commission (Eurostat) on the basis of European legislation.
SBS covers all activities of the business economy with the exception of agricultural activities, public administration and (largely) non-market services such as education and health. The data are provided by all EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, some candidate and potential candidate countries.
Most of the data is collected by National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) by means of statistical surveys, business registers or from various administrative sources. Regulatory or controlling national offices for financial institutions or central banks often provide the information required for the financial sector (NACE Rev 2 Section K).
Member States apply various statistical methods, according to the data source, such as grossing up, model based estimation or different forms of imputation, to ensure the quality of SBSs produced.

Main characteristics (variables) of the SBS data category:

• "Business Demographic" variables (e.g. Number of active enterprises)
• "Output related" variables (e.g. Net turnover, Value added)
• "Input related" variables: labour input (e.g. Employment, Hours worked); goods and services input (e.g. Purchases of goods and services); capital input (e.g. Gross investments)

All SBS characteristics are published on Eurostat’s website in tables. An example of the existent tables is presented below:

• Annual enterprise statistics broken down by size classes: SBS data are published by country and employment size class (0-9; 10-19;20-49; 50-249; 250 persons employed or more), again broken down by detailed economic activity, group level (3-digits). Additional size classes 0-1 and 2-9 persons employed are available for NACE Rev 2 Sections F to J, L to N and P to R and divisions S95 and S96 only for variables "Number of active enterprises" and "Number of employees and self-employed persons". For trade (NACE Rev 2 Section G) a supplementary breakdown by size class of turnover is available.
• Annual enterprise statistics: SBS data are published by country and detailed economic activity (NACE Rev 2) class level (4-digits) and special aggregates.
• Annual/Bi-annual Business services statistics: "Net turnover by product" and "Net turnoner by residence of client" are published by country and detailed down to NACE Rev 2 group level (3-digits). The statistics on “Net turnover by product” permits analysis of products' relative importance in the turnover, consistency of product level statistics and product specialisation. On the other hand, information on “Turnover by residence of client” enables analysis of the type and location of clients and client specialisation.
• Annual regional statistics: Three characteristics are published by NUTS-2 country region and detailed on NACE Rev 2 division level (2-digits).

More information on the contents of different tables: the detail level and breakdowns required starting with the reference year 2021 is defined in Commission Regulation 2019/2152 (‘EBS Regulation’) and Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 (‘EBS General Implementing Act’) concerning European Business Statistics.
Several important derived indicators are generated in the form of ratios of certain monetary characteristics or per head values. A list with the available derived indicators is available below in the Annexes.

Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE):  NACE Rev.2 is used from 2008 onwards.

The regional breakdown of the EU Member States is based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS).

The product breakdown is based on the Classification of Products by Activity (CPA) as stated in the Regulation establishing CPA 2.1. 

Country codes and names are based on the inter-institutional style guide.

Starting with reference year 2021, SBS cover the economic activities of market producers within the NACE Rev. 2 Sections B to N, P to R and Divisions S95 and S96. This includes mining and quarrying, industry, supply and sewerage, construction, trade, and most of the service activities. SBS do not cover agriculture, forestry and fishing, nor public administration and (largely) non-market services such as education and health.

For Business Services statistics, SBS cover enterprises with more than 20 employees and self-employed persons only and

• NACE Rev 2 divisions 62, 78 and groups 58.2, 63.1, 73.1 annually
• NACE Rev 2 groups 69.1, 69.2 and 70.2 (from r.y. 2021) and groups 71.1, 71.2 and 73.2 (from r.y. 2022) bi-annually

SBS describe the activity structure, conduct and performance of businesses in the Member States of the European Union (EU). Given their coverage, SBS form the statistical source providing the most comprehensive picture of the European economy, both at national and at aggregated EU level.
Structural Business Statistics (SBS) describe the economy through the observation of the activity of units engaged in an economic activity. They answer such questions as: how much wealth is created in an economic activity? What work force is needed to create this wealth ? Is this activity contributing in the growth of the economy? How much investment is realized in this activity?

Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 (on European Business Statistics - EBS) and the Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 (EBS General Implementing Act) are the framework Regulations that cover, in an integrated manner, all domains of European business statistics.

Compared to the data requirements of the previous European Regulation on SBS of 2008, the new EBS Regulation has incorporated the following changes :

• improve the coverage of the services sector;
• extend the coverage of collected variables;
• provide preliminary data by size class for 3 variables;
• restructure data requirements for the financial and insurance activities sector;
• apply simplifying measures.

Due to the integrated approach of the EBS Regulation, the statistical domains as previously known are no longer explicitly found there but can be identified at the level of topics and detailed topics, the levels below the new statistical domains. The EBS Regulation distinguishes four statistical domains:

(a) Short-term statistics
(b) Country-level business statistics
(c) Regional business statistics
(d) Statistics on international activities.

SBS is embedded in domain b) ‘Country-level business statistics’ and in domain c) ‘Regional business statistics’.

The 45 variables constituting the SBS part of the EBS Regulation can be allocated to 5 topics:

• Business population,
• Labour inputs,
• Purchases,
• Outputs and performance
• Investments.

These topics are further subdivided into 15 detailed topics.
Ten tables define the structure of the actual data requirements of SBS, both at the country level (EBS GIA Tables 10, 11, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28) and at the regional level (EBS GIA table 29).

For variables definitions please refer to Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 (‘EBS General Implementing Act’) - Annex IV - Section II.

Each variable is identified by a 6-digit code.

For Business services statistics

• the product specialisation is defined as a share of the most important product in the total turnover of an enterprise in the following way:

a) the most important product is consistent with the main activity of the enterprise and

b) the most important product comprises at least 75% of its total net turnover.

• the client specialisation is defined as a share of the three biggest clients in total turnover:

a) Non-specialised: [0% - 50%)

b) Medium specialised: [50% - 75%)

c) Highly specialised: [75% - 100%]

Only two statistical units apply, in SBS: the enterprise for the country-level business statistics data and the local unit for the regional business data.

The definition of an enterprise is provided by the Statistical Unit Regulation 1993 (Council Regulation (EEC) No 696 / 93) as follows:
The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.

In business statistics, the term enterprise should always be used in the sense of a ‘statistical enterprise’. This means, through definition, one aims to create a statistical unit that would allow one to compile harmonised data, irrespective of the actual organisational and legal structures of the economic agents.
In the past, mainly untill reference year 2018, many Member States used the ‘legal unit’ as a proxy for the ‘enterprise’. The transition from the ‘legal unit’ to the ‘enterprise’ may have caused breaks in the series of the SBS characteristics, for example an enterprises consisting of several legal unit will only be counted once and intraflows between the legal units within the enterprise will be eliminated (consolidated) in SBS statistics.

The local unit is defined in the Statistical Unit Regulation 1993 as follows:
The local unit is an enterprises or part thereof (e.g., a workshop, factory, warehouse, office, mine or deport) situated in a geographical identified place. At or from this place economic activity is carried out for which – save for certain exceptions – one or more persons work (even if only part time) for one and the same enterprise.

For more methodological details on statistical units please refer to Methodological manual on European Structural Business Statistics - 2021 Edition, Chapter 3, Par.3.3.1, p.63

Structural business statistics (SBS) cover the economic activities of market producers within the business economy NACE Rev. 2 Sections B to N, P to R and Divisions S95 and S96. This includes mining and quarrying, industry, supply and sewerage, construction, trade, and most of the service activities. SBS do not cover agriculture, forestry and fishing, nor public administration and (largely) non-market services such as education and health.

The data category covers EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and some EU Candidate and potential candidate countries. 

1995 is the first reference year for SBS implementation and the period between 1995 till 1998 was a transitional period for SBS implementation.

The data set is more complete and comparable starting from reference year 1999. European aggregates are available for most important characteristics and tables from reference year 1999 onwards. 

Please refer to metadata for information on data before reference year 2021 here

Not applicable.

• Monetary data are expressed in millions of €. For annual average exchange rates vis-à-vis the euro please refer to the following tables:

- countries not in Eurozone
- countries in Eurozone (with reference year before entering it)

• Per head values are expressed in thousands of € per head.
• Per hours values are expressed in € per hour.
• Ratios of monetary variables are expressed in percentages.
• Employment variables are expressed in units.

SBS data refer to the calendar year and in most cases corresponds to the fiscal year.

Starting with reference year 2021 two new regulations currently form the legal basis of SBS:

• Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics (EBS Regulation), and
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements (general implementing act)  pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152

Year 1995 was the first year for the implementation of the Council Regulation No 58/97 (SBS Regulation).

The Council Regulation No 58/97 has been amended three times: by Council Regulation No 410/98, Commission Regulation No 1614/2002 and European Parliament and Council Regulation No 2056/2002. As a new amendment of the basic Regulation it was decided to recast the Regulation No 58/97 in order to obtain a new "clean" legal text. In 2008 the European Parliament and Council adopted Regulation No 295/2008 and the provisions of this Regulation are were applicable from the reference year 2008 to reference year 2020. Regulation No 295/2008 was amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No 446/2014.

Eurostat makes available all non-confidential and sufficiently reliable data on its dissemination website.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

If data are of truly confidential nature according to the above mentioned regulation, they have to be flagged confidential, and they will not be published by Eurostat.

Eurostat makes available all non-confidential data on its dissemination website.

Preliminary data are published one year after the end of the reference year (T+12).

Final data are published two years after the end of the reference year (T+22).

EU aggregates are published early after the final data are published.

Plese consult the online release calendar on Eurostat website, under "Industry, Trade and Service" theme.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity' in the SBS ESMS file) respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Annual, however, some specific sector information is available only on a multi-yearly basis.

News releases on-line.

Publications - Structural business statistics - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Annualy: Eurostat regional yearbook (in English)

On the Eurostat Website dedicated page to Business economy by sector - NACE Rev. 2 (in English)

Please consult free data on-line or refer to contact details.

Not applicable.

Eurostat website: Home - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Structural Business Statistics dedicated section: Overview - Structural business statistics - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Please consult the methodology page in Strutural Business Statistics online section 

Documents and references - Quality - Eurostat (europa.eu)

As from the reference year 2008 Member States have been providing Eurostat with regular (annual) quality reports covering most of the categories of the ESS Standard for Quality Reports. Eurostat prepares a summary quality reports which is discussed in a yearly meeting with Member States.

According to the information available from the quality reports, the data providers have applied the recommendations available in the EU Regulations.

The main users of SBS data, the Commission policy DGs, are consulted in order to identify unfulfilled user needs.

An indicator of the usefulness of SBS is the number of downloads of SBS tables from the Eurostat website and the page views of the SBS dedicated section: in 2022, Eurostat's SBS tables and the dedicated section of the website reached almost 220,000 downloads and 120,000 page views respectively.

User comments were also analysed and in general they are happy with the SBS data, except for the timeliness of the data which is available two years after the end of the reference period.

From 2008 onwards, overall 95% of the data required by the SBS Regulation was provided.  All non-confidential data of sufficient quality has been published.

The SBS Regulation is an output-oriented Regulation, leaving data providers the choice of data sources. In most countries a combination of survey and administrative data is used. 

For the data covered by survey the coefficients of variation were transmitted by the countries. 

Eurostat calculates aggregated EU coefficients of variation based on the national coefficients of variation for four characteristics and for all sectors at NACE Rev.2 one-digit level (Section).

The overall EU coefficients of variation, for the four characteristics will be available in the Synthesis Quality Report  in Annexes. Data of individual countries cannot be published.

The unit non-response and item non-response are provided by EEA Member States, but cannot be disseminated. The overall EU non-response rate, for the four characteristics will be available in the Synthesis Quality Report in Annexes

Preliminary and final data are disseminated respectively 2 and 4 months after legal deadline transmission from the countries. 

Final data ought to be transmitted to Eurostat 18 months after the end of the reference period (T). Preliminary data should be transmitted to Eurostat 10 months after the end of the reference period. Punctuality has improved over time.  

Some methodological factors that limit the comparisons across countries can be found in the National metadata at the top right of the page.

To assess the inter-temporal comparability of SBS data, it should be investigated whether the same concepts and methods were applied. In case data are not comparable there might be a break in time series. Particular reasons for breaks in time series in SBS data are the implementation of EBS regulation (for reference year 2021), the implemenatation of statistical unit enterprise (for most of the countries for reference year 2018), changes in NACE classification (for reference year 2008). 

Non confidential national and EU data are released at the finest possible level of detail. Yet the general principle "the higher the level of aggregation (the more aggregated the data), the better the quality" applies to SBS. Detailed data for small countries have to be used with a certain caution.

Data on Structural business statistics can be found in the following related domains:

Regional statistics, environmental protection expenditure statistics, research and development, labour cost statistics, labour force survey, European business trends, short-term statistics, culture and sport statistics.

In these collections data similar to SBS can be found. It should be noted that methodological differences exist which can explain inconsistencies. Apparent inconsistencies between SBS data and the data from labour cost statistics, labour force survey and short term statistics have been examined.

The OECD also collects and disseminates enterprise statistics in its new Structural Business Statistics Database, containing the database known as SSIS (Structural Statistics for Industry and Services) and SEC (Statistics by Enterprise Size Class). In order to reduce the response burden on member countries and to harmonise SBS data collections between Eurostat and OECD, the OECD sources since 2004 data from Eurostat for EU countries (according to the terms of a "Memorandum of Understanding" signed by both organisations). Comparable data on other OECD countries is collected by the OECD and made available to Eurostat.

The internal consistency of the data (links between variables, coherence between data series,...) are checked by Eurostat before dissemination.

In between Eurostat releases, Member States may revise their figures; Eurostat publishes the new Member States' figures together with the last reference year, at the latest, but does not recalculate the EU accounts until the next scheduled EU release. Geographical coherence may thus be lost for a brief period. In turn, a certain stability of annual aggregates is assured.

Article 4 of the EBS Regulation stipulates that, in producing European statistics, Member States may use any relevant data sources while avoiding excessive burden on respondents and taking due account of the cost-effectiveness of the national statistical authority. Furthermore, Article 5 states that the national statistical authorities shall have the right to access and use, promptly and free of charge, all administrative records, and to integrate those records with other data sources, so as to meet the statistical requirements of the EBS Regulation. Both articles are central as they set the basis for supporting cost-effectiveness and reducing unnecessary burden on respondents. SBS is a statistical domain that has a relatively low response burden. It is an annual data collection, administrative data are widely used, and various variables can directly be taken from the annual company reports.

The general Eurostat revision policy applies to this domain.

All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data.

Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.

Data are only published once they are deemed to be sufficiently complete for all data providers.

Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated.

The Structural Business Statistics (SBS) data are collected through statistical surveys, from the business register or from administrative sources. National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) can use one or several of these sources, according to the survey strategy they have adopted, taking into account the costs, the quality and the response burden on enterprises.

• Statistical surveys: the NSI sends questionnaires to the enterprises or local units surveyed. They send these questionnaires either to all enterprises (exhaustive survey) or to a sample of enterprises. Very often, samples are used for smaller enterprises while large enterprises are all surveyed. This is called stratified sampling with an inclusion probability depending on size of the unit.
• Administrative sources: they are typically maintained by the tax and social security authorities. They are used as a source by the NSI to comply with the SBS regulation requirements. Administrative sources have the advantage of reducing the response burden on enterprises; however, in most cases they don't contain all variables required. Moreover, the parameters sampled generally don't coincide exactly with the definition of the statistical characteristics they are used as a proxy of.
• Business register: it provides the information that can be used for the SBS data collection (number of enterprises) and contains some basic characteristics (NACE activity code, employment, turnover) used for sample stratification, for inference or for calibration.

Annual data are requested. Some characteristics on a specific sector, which is burdensome to collect, are covered on a multi-annual basis.

As far as statistical surveys are concerned, large businesses are completely enumerated whereas small businesses are usually sampled only.

Data are acquired by interviewing the sampled enterprises directly mainly by  web interviews and self-administered questionnaires and/or by telephone interviews.

At Eurostat level data is validated before publishing. A number of logical checks between different variables are performed and the consistency of data over time is checked as well.

The European aggregate EU27_2020 for European Union includes 27 countries and is available from reference year 2011.

European aggregates are calculated and disseminated twice a year for most characteristics broken down by economic activity and for some characteristics broken down by size class, too.

Whenever those aggregates do not rely on a full coverage, estimates can be published. In these cases such data are flagged with either one or some of following flags:

e:Estimated value (precise within ±1% unless also flagged 'u');

d: Values refer to rounded estimates based on non-confidential data. Note: difference between aggregates and components can be due to rounding;

u: Unreliable or uncertain data: (Estimation error from ±1% to ±5%);

Missing data are estimated for the purpose of the calculation of European aggregates only, these estimates are not released. Countries might send data with substantial delays to the regulation deadline. Occasionally, some characteristics or some NACE codes are missing. Eurostat would be unable to release European aggregates if these data were not estimated.

In order to protect confidential data at the national level rounding some of EU aggregates are rounded. This way the confidential data at national level can only be determined with a very high error margin, the EU aggregates are however still acceptably accurate. A consequence of this method to hide confidential national data is that the breakdown of the data for a certain activity level into more detailed activities does not correspond fully with the figure provided for this activity level.

Financial data used generally derive from accounting data.

Monetary characteristics of the different countries are converted to and/or rounded to millions of euro. 

Due to different revision policy for the European aggregates and the Member States' data, there may be a difference between the European aggregate and the appropriate sum of national data between updates.