EUROPE: Cyprus has low rate of self-employed EU residents

The lowest self-employment rates for persons born in a different EU Member State than the one they are residing in were observed in Luxembourg (8%), followed by Hungary, Sweden, Austria, Germany and Cyprus (each 9%).

For persons born in a different EU Member State, the highest self-employment rate was recorded in Poland (38%), followed – at some distance – by Malta (21%) and Estonia (20%).

In 2018, about 30.2 million people in the EU aged 20-64 were self-employed. Of these, around 26.7 million were native-born, while 3.5 million were born in a foreign country (of which 2.2 million were born outside the EU and 1.3 million were born in a different EU country).

In relative terms, the share of self-employed persons among the native-born population in 2018 (14%) was higher than the share recorded for foreign-born persons (13% for persons born in a different EU Member State and 12% for persons born outside the EU). Cyprus was below the EU average on all counts.

Across the EU, three out of ten native-born people in Greece were self-employed in 2018 (31%) and around one in five in Italy (22%) and Poland (18%).

In contrast, the self-employed persons among the native-born population accounted for less than 10% of total employment in Denmark and Luxembourg (both 7%) as well as in Germany and Sweden (both 9%).

The highest self-employment rate for persons born outside the EU in 2018 was recorded in Czechia (35%), followed by Poland (19%), Hungary, the United Kingdom (both 17%) and the Netherlands (16%).

By contrast, the lowest rates were recorded in Estonia, Luxembourg and Austria (each 7%), followed by Sweden (8%), Slovenia, Ireland, Denmark and Germany (each 9%).