Small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in terms of employment and are considered a major pillar of our economy. Hence there is a great interest in data and facts about those enterprises. The Federal Statistical Office has therefore compiled selected information on SMEs in the context of a multi-sector economic analysis. The latter has been based on the data of several structural business statistics covering industry, wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, and components of other service branches.

Mittelstand and small and medium-sized enterprises

Time and again, the term Mittelstand is used in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises. Mittelstand is a term which has evolved over time in German-speaking countries. However, a harmonised or legally binding definition does not exist for that concept. Due to the vague definition it is impossible to provide official data on Mittelstand enterprises.

Instead, the concept of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been established in the language used by the international scientific and statistical communities. It is translated as kleine und mittlere Unternehmen in the German language. The bodies of official statistics base their delimitation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on an associated recommendation of the Commission of the European Communities from 6 May 2003. In accordance with that recommendation, SMEs are defined by the variables of persons employed and turnover in the following way:

The Commission uses the term SMEs as a generic term for micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises. In accordance with that concept, all enterprises which employ less than 250 persons and whose annual turnover does not exceed Euro 50 million are regarded as SMEs.