(26 October 2016) – In 2014, around 145 000 companies, or almost a tenth (9.2%) of all active enterprises with at least ten employees in the business economy in the EU were recognized as high-growth enterprises, providing work for over 12 million employees.
These firms have been distinguished using the following criteria: average annualised growth in number of employees greater than 10% per year over a three-year period and at least 10 employees at the beginning of the growth.
The highest proportion was found in the “Information and communication“ sector (15.0% of active enterprises in this sector), followed by “Administrative and support service activities” (12.7%), “Transportation and storage” and “Professional, scientific and technical activities” (both 11.0%).
In 2014, considerable variations were observed across EU Member States in the distribution of high-growth enterprises, with shares ranging from more than 12% in Malta (13.7%), the United Kingdom (12.9%), Latvia (12.8%), Ireland (12.6%), Sweden (12.3%) and Hungary (12.1%), to less than 3% in Romania (2.3%) and Cyprus (2.2%).