Profit share of EU businesses down to 40% in 2024

In 2024, non-financial corporations (businesses whose main economic activity is non-financial) in the EU had a profit share of 40.1%, down by 1.6 percentage points from the previous year. Profit share is the proportion of the value added by a business that remunerates capital (gross operating surplus) rather than labour. A low share may indicate not only lower profits, but also a more labour-intensive economy, while a high share may signal higher profits or an economy that relies more on capital-intensive production.

In 2004, the profit share of non-financial corporations in the EU was 40.4%. It reached 42.1% in 2007 but was shortly followed by years of decline, which in 2012 led to the lowest point on record in 2 decades: 39.5%. After that, it has shown an irregular pattern, with an increase from 40.2% in 2020 to 42.1% in 2021, followed by a small fall in subsequent years to 41.9% in 2022, 41.7% in 2023 and a larger one to 40.1% in 2024.

Source dataset: nasa_10_ki

Among EU countries, the highest profit share values in 2024 were in Ireland (74.9%), Malta (56.4%) and Slovakia (48.9%). Ireland’s high value can be attributed to the large foreign-owned multinational companies located in the country, which have a high capital intensity.

The lowest profit share values were in France (32.2%), Slovenia (33.4%) and Portugal (34.5%).

Source dataset: nasa_10_ki