Foreign-controlled enterprises represented about 1% of market-producing businesses in the European Union in 2024, yet employed 16% of people working in that part of the economy, according to Eurostat.
The same companies accounted for 24% of value added among the covered enterprises, the EU statistics agency reported on October 8. Value added measures the value generated by production after intermediate goods and services have been deducted.
The figures show how a relatively small number of firms can have a substantial presence in employment and production. They do not establish that foreign ownership itself caused higher productivity, wages or growth.
Eurostat’s release on foreign-controlled enterprises covers market producers, businesses whose output is mostly or entirely sold. It does not cover every organization or every job in the EU economy.
Foreign control includes owners inside the EU
A business is counted as foreign-controlled when its ultimate controlling institutional unit is resident in another country. A company in France controlled by an owner in Germany can therefore be foreign-controlled in these statistics, just as a company in France controlled from outside the EU can.
Among foreign-controlled EU businesses in 2024, 59% had controlling units in another EU country and 41% were controlled from outside the bloc. The figures relate to control, not the nationality of every shareholder or worker.
The share of enterprises under foreign control varied widely. Luxembourg recorded 28%, and Estonia 12%. The figure was 5% or less in every other EU member state, with Poland and Italy among the lowest at 0.3%.
Company counts and employment shares answer different questions. A small local shop and a large factory each count as one enterprise, even though they employ very different numbers of people.
National economies have different exposure
Foreign-controlled enterprises represented 45% of people employed or self-employed in Luxembourg’s covered businesses. The share was 28% in Ireland, Slovakia and Romania. Greece recorded 8%, and Cyprus and Italy each had 10%.
Foreign-controlled firms generated 72% of covered value added in Ireland, 62% in Luxembourg and 50% in Slovakia. The corresponding shares were 15% in France and 18% in both Italy and Germany.
Those differences reflect the composition and scale of national business populations. They do not reveal how much income remains locally, how much tax any company pays or whether an individual investment would have taken place under a different owner.
The detailed Eurostat analysis also identifies the United States as the largest source of EU employment among affiliates ultimately controlled from outside the EU. That is a subset of foreign-controlled employment, not a share of all EU jobs.
Why the structure matters for local businesses
Large foreign-controlled firms can purchase from local suppliers, employ local workers and connect production to customers in other markets. Suppliers may also face concentration risk if a major customer changes its sourcing or investment plans.
Our earlier coverage of supplier networks explains why the position of a business in a production network can matter as much as its size. Ownership statistics add another view of how production is organized across borders, but do not identify the dependencies of a particular supplier.
For policymakers, the figures are a starting point for examining investment, employment and resilience. A foreign-controlled firm’s large share of a national sector may create opportunities and exposure at the same time. Judging either requires evidence about the sector, its suppliers and the decisions the owner makes.
