Data extracted in December 2025
Planned article update: February 2027
Highlights
A decade of joint analysis - European profiling brings national statistical institutes together to better understand multinational enterprise groups.
Collaboration in action - national statistical institutes work together to monitor large multinational enterprise groups, ensuring accurate data and informed decision-making.
Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
During the last decade, covering the reference years 2015-2024, 31 national statistical institutes from European Union (EU) Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the UK (reference years 2015-2018) jointly profiled around 770 large multinational enterprise groups located in Europe, in accordance with the European profiling methodology. Some multinational enterprise groups were profiled for more than 1 reference year, either because their organizational structure or economic activities changed from 1 year to the next one or because the existing profiling information had become outdated. Overall, a total of 1 140 profiling exercises were carried out.
This article presents the experiences of EU and EFTA national statistical institutes in European profiling, whether this involves a complete European profiling on the structure and the statistical units of some large multinational enterprise groups located in EU Member States and the EFTA area, or it is limited to profiling the group’s structure only. This is a voluntary activity, organized and well-established as a collaborative process and supported by a dedicated platform allowing secure data sharing.
Profiling of multinational enterprise groups
In 2025, for the reference year 2024, the national statistical institutes jointly profiled the structure of 192 multinational enterprise groups and carried out a complete European profiling of 32 of them. The 192 profiled multinational enterprise groups, employing around 8 million people worldwide, accounted for 32 915 legal units located in 170 countries and linked by more than 49 400 relationships.
The objective of European profiling is to improve the quality of information of the largest multinational enterprise groups in the national statistical business registers and in the EuroGroups Register (EGR) to support the production of high-quality business and macroeconomic statistics, especially when cross border phenomena can affect data consistency at European level.
In the European profiling process, the national statistical institutes together define and agree on the legal, financial and economic structure of multinational enterprise groups and define their main economic activities irrespective of the geographical borders. The national statistical institutes’ roles and responsibilities in European profiling are assigned according to the location of the legal unit in which the strategic decisions of the multinational enterprise groups are taken, i.e. the multinational enterprise groups global decision centre (GDC). The national statistical institute having the role of a GDC profiler:
- leads the process
- selects the multinational enterprise group for profiling
- collects information from the multinational enterprise group
- carries out a global economic analysis of the group and shares the results with the partnering countries in which affiliated enterprises are located
The national statistical institutes that are partner profilers are responsible for:
- analysing and completing the information shared by the GDC profiler regarding their national territory
- delineating their national statistical unit enterprises in case of a complete European profiling
European profiling begins with the profiling of the multinational enterprise groups’ structure. This includes the identification and the collection of information of the legal units within the groups’ control perimeter, and the financial control relationships between these units. This analysis is completed by the collection of the groups’ main economic characteristics at global level. The complete European profiling methodology includes also the analysis of all the main economic activities carried out in the multinational enterprise group, the delineations of its national statistical unit enterprise and the data collections features.
Both the complete European profiling and the profiling limited to the structure of the multinational enterprise groups, are handled in cooperation by different EU and EFTA national statistical institutes targeting important multinational enterprise groups operating in their countries. During a cycle with annual frequency, European national statistical institutes use online Eurostat applications to gather and exchange confidential statistical information. For each reference year for 2015-2024 a profiling cycle was completed.
The complete European profiling process is supported by the Interactive Profiling Tool (IPT), which has been in place since 2015 and is continuously updated with new functionalities. Starting from the 2024 reference year, the EGR Interactive Module (EGR IM), initially dedicated to EGR production, has been enhanced to also perform profiling limited to the structure of the multinational enterprise groups. As for the complete EU profiling, the profiling data are integrated into the EGR production at the end of the European profiling cycle. For profiling on the structure only the data are updated directly in EGR and therefore make an integral part of the EGR frame.
Over the last 3 years, Eurostat and national statistical institutes have identified the largest and most significant multinational enterprise groups operating in Europe by using the list produced from the Complexity and Statistical Impact Index. The Complexity and Statistical Impact (CSI) index was created in 2023 by Eurostat in collaboration with EU and EFTA countries. It ranks multinational enterprise groups based on several size criteria, including:
- global employment
- employment in the largest unit
- number of legal units
- countries of operation
- economic activities
- hierarchical levels in the group structure
The CSI index helps to select around 1 600 key multinational enterprise groups to be monitored. The main goal is to identify the multinational enterprise groups with the highest impact on the EU-EFTA economy and select from this list the multinational enterprise groups to profile and closely monitor.
The 2024 European profiling cycle started in April 2025, involving 192 multinational enterprise groups of relevant economic size including 32 915 legal units located in 170 different countries, as shown in Map 1. Legal units within the multinational enterprise groups’ perimeters were mainly in the EU-EFTA countries (49%), 21% in the United States of America, 5% in the United Kingdom and 4% in China.
Map 1: Worldwide presence of the multinational enterprise groups profiled, 2024
Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
National statistical institutes selected the multinational enterprise groups from the CSI index list and started the profiling cycle in April 2025. The profiling exercise finished at the end of November 2025. During this period data were accessible, updated and shared to the national statistical institutes in the IPT or through the EGR IM. The final results were available at the end November, 11 months after the closed reference year. Data sources are the direct contacts with the multinational enterprise groups or the consolidated annual financial reports. The final results are integrated into the EuroGroups Register and can be used for statistical purposes only.
A decade of European profiling
For the reference years 2015-2024, 31 national statistical institutes from EU countries and EFTA countries and the UK (reference years 2015-2018) jointly handled 1 140 profiling exercises on around 770 large multinational enterprise groups. As shown in Figure 1, for 2024 the national statistical institutes profiled the structure of 192 multinational enterprise groups and carried out a complete European profiling of 32 of them. In 2024, 14 profiling cases were not completed by the GDC, but treated only by the partnering countries.
Since the reference year 2022, the number of profiled multinational enterprise groups have risen sharply, exceeding 140 profiled multinational enterprise groups per year. For the reference years 2015-2021, the national statistical institutes profiled around 90 multinational enterprise groups per cycle, with a peak of 117 multinational enterprise groups profiled during the 2017 cycle. From 2018 onwards, the United Kingdom no longer participated in the European profiling, which had an impact on the total number of multinational enterprise groups profiled in the subsequent years. As in previous years, for the reference year 2024 most of the GDCs (90%) were based in Europe while only 10% were located outside Europe. For the GDCs outside Europe, the GDC profiling role was assigned to a European national statistical institute that was particularly interested in analysing that multinational enterprise group because of a significant presence of foreign affiliates operating in its country.
Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the (national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register). The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
Updating the structure of multinational enterprise groups
For reference year 2024, the profiling of the 192 multinational enterprise groups included the update of their legal and financial structures, i.e. the update of the legal units within the multinational enterprise groups’ control perimeter and the relationships between these legal units. The national statistical institutes initiated the profiling with the 2023 reference year data. The initial structures of 192 multinational enterprise groups comprised a total of 38 630 legal units, linked by 51 819 relationships. By the end of the cycle, with the updated information for the reference year 2024, the perimeters of the 192 multinational enterprise groups had evolved to include 32 915 legal units, with their structures comprising 49 471 relationships, as depicted in Figure 2.
Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
For reference year 2024, within the 192 multinational enterprise groups’ structures, around 22 600 relationships were domestic, i.e. between legal units from the same country, and around 26 900 were cross-border relationships, i.e. between legal units from different countries, as shown in Figure 3.
Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
Main activity of the profiled multinational enterprise groups
During the 10 profiling cycles, the profiled multinational enterprise groups carried out a large variety of main activities, covering 17 NACE sections. However, as shown in Figure 4 some sectors stood out. Manufacturing (NACE section C) ranked first, as it accounted for 47% up to 59% of multinational enterprise groups activities, depending on the different reference years. Wholesale and retail trade (NACE section G) ranked second, accounting for 9% up to 18% of the multinational enterprise groups.
,_reference_years_2015-2024_(%25).png)
Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
Size of the profiled multinational enterprise groups
Figure 5 illustrates that over a decade of European profiling cycles, most profiled multinational enterprise groups comprised fewer than 100 legal units within their consolidation perimeters. However, for the reference year 2024, the proportion of multinational enterprise groups controlling more than 500 legal units rose from 4% in 2023 to 11% in 2024. Additionally, when considering the profiled multinational enterprise groups in terms of the total number of legal units to be checked, a significant increase is observed during the latest 3 profiling cycles. This is primarily due to the expansion in the number of profiled multinational enterprise groups, as depicted in Figure 6.
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Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
During a European profiling cycle, national statistical institutes gather high-quality economic data and information on multinational enterprise groups at the global level, including details on employment and main activity (NACE), directly from the headquarters of the groups. For the reference years 2015-2024, most profiled multinational enterprise groups had a global workforce of fewer than 10 000 people employed, while more than 20% had over 40 000 people employed, as illustrated in Figure 7.
The size of profiled multinational enterprise groups varied significantly both from 1 European profiling cycle to another and from 1multinational enterprise group to another. For instance, in 2024, the largest profiled multinational enterprise group employed over 1.5 million people worldwide, whereas the smallest employed fewer than 50.
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Source: Eurostat
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
European profiling uses several sources, such as the EuroGroups register, Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics, specific information provided during direct contacts between profilers and the groups’ representatives, the Annual Financial Reports published by the multinational enterprise group which provide a presentation of their activity, their consolidated accounts and other qualitative information on multinational enterprise groups restructurings, investment plans etc., websites which provide a great deal of useful information on the governance structure of the multinational enterprise groups, their business segments, figures on employments and countries of affiliates. Data on multinational enterprise groups provided by EU or EFTA countries during the European profiling cycles are exchanged/updated and stored in Eurostat within the Interactive Profiling Tool, which is a secure and interactive platform to support the process. The output of European profiling, containing micro data on multinational enterprise groups, their constituent enterprises and legal units, is produced annually at the end of each cycle and transmitted to national statistical institutes in EU Member States and EFTA countries by Eurostat using the secure channel of the Commission, if there is at least 1 legal unit resident in the country. Data can only be used to produce official statistics in the European statistical system.
Context
Globalisation and the increasing complexity of the activities of multinational enterprise groups pose challenges to the production of business statistics and macroeconomic statistics and to the correct and consistent reflection of multinational enterprise groups’ activities in national statistics. As a prerequisite to better analyse cross border transactions of large multinational enterprise groups and correctly record them in national statistics, statisticians in the European statistical system need to be able to observe the complete and correct economic structures of the multinational enterprise groups that are mainly responsible for large transactions and operations and have a significant impact on data consistency in the countries where they operate.
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Database
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.