Businesses by federal state 2024

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• 3,543,865legal units in Germany in 2024
• 85.0%of them with fewer than 10 employees (3,011,214)
• 103,333with 50 or more employees (2.9%)
• 42.4legal units per 1,000 inhabitants

Legal units per federal state

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Columns 0–9 to 250+: number of employees of the legal unit (“0–9” = 0 to under 10). Each legal unit counts once, in the state of the address held in the register (official municipality code). Destatis shows local units in a separate table (52111-0006). Results by district and municipality are available on request from the state statistical offices (quality report, section 1.3).

What the table shows

• Three states account for 52.7% of businesses: North Rhine-Westphalia (740,506), Bavaria (647,475), Baden-Württemberg (478,571).
• Most businesses are small. In every federal state, at least 81.5% have fewer than 10 employees (the lowest share: Bremen); nationwide the figure is 85.0%. Businesses with 250 or more employees make up 0.5%.
• Density: per 1,000 inhabitants, the range runs from 32.3 in Saxony-Anhalt to 55.1 in Hamburg. Ranking by density: Hamburg 55.1, Berlin 51.2, Bavaria 48.9, Hesse 44.5 … Saarland 37.2, Thuringia 35.7, Saxony-Anhalt 32.3.
• Larger businesses: units with 50 or more employees – often the target group in B2B sales – are most numerous in North Rhine-Westphalia (22,752), Bavaria (17,512), Baden-Württemberg (15,063).

For campaign planning, this means: a nationwide selection consists largely of micro-businesses. If you only want to reach businesses above a certain size, name the size class as a filter from the start.

Definitions

• A legal unit is any legally independent unit held in the business register – for example a GmbH, an AG, a partnership or a sole proprietorship. This way of counting produces the total of 3,543,865, which is also quoted elsewhere on this website.
• Employees are employees subject to social insurance contributions and employees in marginal employment. Owners without staff count in the “0–9” class.
• Per 1,000 inhabitants: legal units divided by the population on 31 December 2024, multiplied by 1,000, rounded to one decimal place.

Methodological notes

• Coverage threshold. For 2024, a legal unit is only included if it had a turnover of more than 22,000 euros or, in at least one month, an employee subject to social insurance contributions, or on annual average an employee in marginal employment (Destatis, Qualitätsbericht Statistisches Unternehmensregister 2024 (erschienen 01.12.2025)). Smaller businesses are missing.
• Not covered are agriculture and forestry, public administration, private households and extraterritorial organisations; private letting in real estate is excluded from publication.
• No comparison over time. From reference year 2024, the business register counts employees according to the job concept. Destatis points out that more units are therefore recorded and that a comparison with the previous year is not meaningful (business register page). We therefore do not show changes from earlier years.
• Industry figures on this website count “enterprises (EU)” and cannot be added up to this total; more under Data inventory.

How to cite

The figures come from Destatis; you may reuse them with attribution. Suggestion:

b2bkartei.de: Businesses by federal state 2024. Based on Destatis, GENESIS tables 52111-0005 and 12411-0010 (as of 21 September 2026). Retrieved on 13 October 2026. https://b2bkartei.de/en/daten/unternehmen-nach-bundeslaendern/