Data extracted in April 2025.
Planned article update: May 2026.
Highlights
From 2014 to 2024, the number of ICT specialists in the EU increased by 62.2%, almost 6 times as much as the increase (10.6%) for total employment.
In 2024, 80.5% of men were employed as ICT specialists in the EU against 19.5% of women.
In 2024, about two-thirds (67.4%) of ICT specialists in the EU had completed a tertiary level of education.
In 2024, 60.6% of employed persons in Information and communication (Section J, NACE Rev.2) were ICT specialists – the highest share of all NACE Rev.2 sections.
Proportion of ICT specialists in total employment, 2024
This article provides an overview of recent developments in the demand for information and communication technology (ICT) specialists in Europe using data on employment as a proxy. ICT specialists are defined as persons who have the ability to develop, operate and maintain ICT systems and for whom ICTs constitute the main part of their job (OECD, 2004).
The introduction of new technologies and digitalisation — often referred to as the 'fourth industrial revolution' — is having an impact on society through changes to the way that people live, work and interact with one another. ICTs have already been the cause of significant changes to methods of production and patterns of employment within the European Union (EU). Policymakers and researchers therefore have an interest in tracking employment developments for ICT specialists, as these influence a country's comparative advantage in the development, installation and servicing of ICTs.
Number of ICT specialists
In 2024, more than 10 million persons were employed as ICT specialists across the European Union (EU). The highest number (2.3 million) worked in Germany, which provided work to more than one-fifth (22.1%) of the EU's overall employed ICT specialists. France (1.4 million) had the second largest share of ICT specialists in employment (13.6% of the EU total), followed by Spain and Italy (just over one million and 0.9 million – representing 10.0% and 9.2% of the EU total, respectively).
Across the whole of the EU, ICT specialists accounted for 5.0% of the overall number of employed people in 2024 (see Figure 1).
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Sweden had the highest relative share of its total employed population working as ICT specialists, with 450 700 employed persons in such roles, representing 8.6% of total employment in Sweden, followed by Luxembourg and Finland where about 26 000 and 204 000 ICT specialists represented 8.0% and 7.8% of total employment, respectively. Relatively high shares of employed persons working as ICT specialists were also recorded in Estonia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Cyprus and Croatia in 2024, with each reporting that more than 1 in 20 persons within their total employed population working as an ICT specialist. By contrast, at the other end of the range, ICT specialists accounted for 2.5% of total employment in Greece and 2.8% in Romania.
In EFTA countries, ICT specialists were relatively more numerous in Switzerland followed by Norway with relative shares of total employment higher than the EU average (respectively 5.7% and 5.5%). In Iceland, 4.2% of the overall employed persons were employed as ICT specialists. Among candidate countries presenting data for 2024, the highest share of ICT specialists in total employment was 4.3% in Serbia, below the EU average.
General developments in the demand for ICT specialists
During the last decade, the number of ICT specialists in employment in the EU generally held out against the effects of the global financial and economic crisis and the downturn experienced in many labour markets. As a consequence, the share of ICT specialists in total employment increased by 1.6 percentage points (pp) from 3.4% in 2014 to 5.0% in 2024 (Figure 2).
The number of employed ICT specialists increased by 62.2% during the period from 2014 to 2024, which was slightly less than six times as high as the corresponding increase (10.6%) for total employment (see Figure 3).
Over the decade, ICT specialists in employment rose with an average annual growth rate of 5.0%. After a monotonously increasing path between 2014 and 2019, the number of ICT specialists presented higher progression rates between 2019 and 2021 with 7.1% and 6.0%. In the last years of the decade, the progression slightly decelerated but still revealed a higher rate than those prevailing in the beginning of the decade with 4.3% between 2022 and 2023 and 4.8% between 2023 and 2024. This overall growing tendency could reflect the digital transformation affecting the whole economy (see Figure 3).
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Source: Eurostat (isoc_sks_itspt) and (lfsa_egan)
Human capital in ICT is a driving force for digital and digital-enabled innovations and may be considered crucial for the competitiveness of modern-day economies. Although this segment of the labour market is quite small in absolute terms, ICT employment was relatively resistant to the cyclical nature of economic events during the most recent decade for which data are available. Indeed, as can be observed in Figure 3, annual rates of change for the number of ICT specialists were consistently higher than those recorded for total employment across the EU economy.
In the first 2 years of the decade, the rates of change for the number of employed ICT specialists in the EU and for total employment showed slightly different patterns. Whilst the number of ICT specialists grew at an average annual rate of 5.0%, total employment increased by 1.0% each year on average. The global financial and economic crisis and its aftermath did not seem to affect the number of ICT specialists employed in the EU. The transition between 2019 and 2020 led to the highest annual progression of the index of employed ICT specialists ever observed during the decade, with a jump of 8.9 points of index. The trend then reversed in the following years. Between 2023 and 2024, ICT specialists still continued to rise in the total work force but at a slower pace of 7.4 points largely above the 1.1 points increase of total employment.
ICT specialists by sex
The vast majority of ICT specialists in employment in the EU are men. The share of ICT employment that was accounted for by men stood at 80.5% in 2024, which was 3.3 pp lower than it had been in 2014 (see Figure 4 and Table 1). In 2024, less than 9 out of 10 ICT specialists in Czechia (87.0%), Malta (85.3%) followed by Hungary and Greece(84.8% and 84.0%, respectively) were men. While men accounted for about 8 out of every 10 ICT specialists in the majority of the remaining EU countries, Latvia (73.2%), Bulgaria (73.0%), Romania (72.7%) and Estonia (72.4%) were the only EU countries where the share of men was lower than 75%.
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Source: Eurostat (isoc_sks_itsps), (isoc_sks_itspe) and (isoc_sks_itspa)
Indeed, in Estonia, women accounted for 27.6% of ICT specialists in 2024 — the highest share among the EU countries. Women accounting for about one-quarter of all ICT specialists were also found in Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia, and close to that level in Ireland and Sweden. Women made up one-fifth or more of all ICT specialists in six other EU countries (Figure 4).
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In absolute terms, there were more than a third of a million female ICT specialists employed in Germany (436 200) in 2024. These were, by far, the highest levels of female employment expressed in thousands, as France (269 900), Spain (200 100), Italy (161 900), Poland (134 700), the Netherlands (128 300) and Sweden (108 300) were the only other EU countries to record 100 000 and more women employed as ICT specialists.
A closer analysis of this gender gap reveals that there were 24 EU countries where the share of female ICT specialists rose during the period 2014 - 2024. The most striking progressions were observed in Estonia where the share of women in the total number of ICT specialists rose from 19.4% to 27.6 % (up 8.2 pp), followed by Cyprus and Austria, up 8.1 pp and 7.7 pp respectively. By contrast, the relative share of men in the total number of ICT specialists rose the most in Bulgaria, Greece, and Malta, up by 4.8 pp, 4.1 pp, and 0.5 pp, respectively.
In the 3 EFTA countries for which data are available, the gender distribution of ICT specialists in employment in 2024 was relatively similar to that in the EU, as the male shares of ICT specialists ranged from 82.1% in Switzerland to 78.7% in Norway. In Serbia, one of the few non-EU country with available data, the gender gap had narrowed between 2014 and 2024 by 7.6 pp with men accounting for 77.5% of all ICT specialists compared with 22.5% for women, above the EU average.
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Source: Eurostat (isoc_sks_itsps)
Figure 5 shows average annual rates of change for employment among ICT specialists, with data for men and women separately. On average, the number of men employed as ICT specialists in the EU rose by 4.5% per annum during the period 2014 to 2024, while the corresponding rate for women was 6.9% per annum. As a result, the overall number of male ICT specialists increased by 55.8%, while the overall increase in the number of female ICT specialists was 94.7%.
In all of the EU countries, both numbers of men and women employed as ICT specialists recorded steady annual growth between 2014 and 2024. At the individual country level. Lithuania recorded the highest overall annual growth rate (12.9%) followed by Malta (9.5%) and Cyprus (9.2%). Among these, both Lithuania and Cyprus also recorded remarkably high growth rates among female ICT specialists (both 13.7% per annum). However, the gender dynamics differed: in Cyprus, the growth was clearly driven by women, with a substantial gap between female and male growth rates, whereas in Lithuania and Malta, the growth was more gender-balanced, with only small differences between the progression rates of men (12.7% and 9.5%, respectively) and women (13.7% and 9.6%, respectively).
The highest average annual growth rates for female ICT specialists were observed in Lithuania and Cyprus (both 13.7%), followed by Luxembourg (11.6%), Estonia (11.4%), Croatia (11.1%), and Portugal (11.0%). While most countries recorded higher growth among women than among men, the gender gap in average annual growth rates – in favour of women – was particularly pronounced in Austria, Cyprus, Portugal, Croatia and Estonia.
Rather high rates of average annual growth of ICT specialists in employment were also observed in Serbia with an overall rate of 9.3%, 8.3% for men and 14.0% for women (over the period 2014-2024).
ICT specialists by attainment level of education
In 2024, just over two-thirds (67.4% of those who reported their education attainment level) of all ICT specialists in the EU had completed a tertiary level of educational attainment (see Figure 6 and Table 1).
Data on ICT specialists by attainment level of education presented in Table 1 and in Figure 6 have been recalculated to retain only the categories of tertiary and non-tertiary education attainment levels. Reported cases of non-response are published in details on Eurobase.
The share of ICT specialists with a tertiary level of educational attainment increased during the most recent decade for which data are available, rising from 58.6% in 2014 to 67.4% in 2024; in other words, the share of ICT specialists that had a high level of educational attainment rose by 28.8 pp in the decade 2014-2024.
In the period covering 2014 to 2024, the analysis reveals that the share of ICT specialists with a tertiary level of educational attainment rose by nearly 18 pp in Portugal, more than 16 pp in Sweden, and more than 10 pp in five other countries: Latvia, Denmark, Romania, Cyprus, and Italy. All those countries observed two-digit progression in percentage points (pp). Nineteen remaining EU countries reported that their share of ICT specialists with a tertiary level of educational attainment increased during this period. One country, however, (Finland) experienced a reversed tendency with an increase of persons who have not attained a tertiary level of education but who were employed as ICT specialists (-0.1 pp) (Table 1). Large educational attainment gaps (above 10 pp) over the decade were also observed in Norway, Serbia and Türkiye.
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Source: Eurostat (isoc_sks_itspe)
Among the EU countries, the highest shares of ICT specialists with a tertiary level of educational attainment were recorded in Cyprus, Ireland, Spain, Lithuania, France, and Belgium, where more than 4 out of every 5 persons had obtained such a level of education in 2024. A majority of ICT specialists had attained a tertiary level of education in all but one of the remaining EU countries, the exception being Italy (43.9%).
In all of the EFTA countries providing data, shares of ICT specialists in possession of a tertiary level of education were close to the European average, with 69.8% in Norway, followed by Switzerland at 67.9% and Iceland with the lowest share at 62.2% (Figure 6).
Türkiye was the only candidate country, among the countries where data was available, to display a higher proportion of ICT specialists having attained a tertiary level of education higher than the EU average, with a share of 73.4%.
ICT specialists by age group
The age distribution of ICT specialists is presented using 2 age groups: persons aged 15-34 years and those aged 35 years and over, with an upper age for employment limited at 74 years (see Figure 7 and Table 1).
In 2024, less than two-thirds (62.8%) of all ICT specialists employed in the EU were aged 35 years and over, slightly down from 62.9% in 2014. This modest decline of 0.1 pp over the decade suggests a very slight rejuvenation of the EU’s ICT specialists’ workforce. However, this overall stability conceals contrasting national trends. Most EU countries recorded an increase in the share of older ICT specialists (aged 35-74), with particularly large rises in Slovakia (18.6 pp), Romania (13.4 pp), Estonia (10.5 pp), Poland (10.4 pp) and Latvia (10.1 pp). These developments may reflect structural changes such as population ageing and/or a growing tendency for young people to remain in longer in education.
In contrast, a small number of countries – most notably Denmark and Luxembourg – recorded a significant rise in the share of younger ICT specialists (aged 15-34), going against the general trend (7.0 pp and 6.4 pp, respectively). Eight other countries – Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Portugal, Finland and Belgium – followed this pattern but with lesser differences.
These diverging national patterns highlight the evolving age dynamics in the employment of ICT specialists across the EU.
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In 2024, the EU countries where people aged 35 years and over accounted for the highest shares of ICT specialists included Italy (71.3%), Finland (68.3%), Slovakia (68.2%) and Sweden (67.5%). By contrast, a majority of ICT specialists aged 15-34 years was obtained in countries such as Malta (52%), Lithuania (51.3%), and Portugal (44.3%), followed by Latvia (43.7%), Estonia (42.9%), Cyprus (41.9%), and Croatia (41.1%).
The 3 EFTA countries observed the same pattern of age distribution as most EU countries, with people aged 35 years and over accounting for 65.3% of the total number of ICT specialists in Norway, 63.5% in Switzerland, and 61.3% in Iceland. Candidate countries marked their difference when presenting a much younger pattern than the EU average: ICT specialists from the younger age group were in majority in Bosnia and in Türkiye (59.9% and 58.2%, respectively), whereas in Serbia the proportion was slightly lower, with 43.9%.
ICT specialists by economic activity
In 2024, ICT specialists were most heavily concentrated in Information and communication (Section J), where 60.6% of all employees held specialist ICT roles. Five other sections registered notable intensities: Financial and insurance activities (K) at 8.3%, Professional, scientific & technical activities (M) at 8.1%, Electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning supply (D) at 7.7%, Activities of extraterritorial organisations & bodies (U) at 6.4%, and Manufacturing (C) at 4.3%. Arts, entertainment & recreation (R), Other service activities (S) and Public administration & defence; compulsory social security (O) each fell between 3% and 4%. The twelve remaining sections individually accounted for under 3% of the total employment of their respective NACE Rev.2 section—together summing to 17.3% (see Figure 8).
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Between 2014 and 2024, eight of the nine sectors above the 3% threshold in 2024, saw increases in the ICT specialist shares in their total employment. Once again, Section J led the way, up 9.9 pp (from 50.7% to 60.6%), averaging 6.4% growth per annum. Following this was Section K, which increased by 3.4 pp (from 4.9% to 8.3%) with an annual growth of 6.2%. Sections M, D, O, R, C and U also grew, but more moderately. Section S was the sole exception: its share declined by 0.4 pp (from 4.0% to 3.6%), even though the number of ICT specialists in this section rose slightly (about 0.4% per annum) (see Figure 9). These patterns confirm that, while ICT specialists are still most densely concentrated in Information and communication (J), demand for their skills is gradually spreading across the broader economy.
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In 2024, in almost every Member State, at least half of those employed in Information and communication (J) were ICT specialists – the only exception being Malta (44.8%). Bulgaria recorded the highest rate (76.3%), followed by Estonia (73.3%) and Czechia (71.9%). Portugal, Finland, Poland and Slovakia each exceeded two-thirds (see Figure 10).
All EFTA and candidate countries with available data remained below the EU average. Serbia, Norway and Switzerland still registered shares above 50% (59.0%, 57.0%, and 55.0%, respectively), while Türkiye, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland fell below that mark (44.7%, 43.7%, and 43.6%, respectively) (see Figure 10).
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Source: Eurostat (isoc_sks_itspn2)
Between 2014 and 2024, the EU average growth in the number of ICT specialists in Section J was 6.4% per annum. Lithuania led at 14.6%, closely followed by Cyprus (14.4%) and Bulgaria (10.3%). At the lower end, Slovenia (2.3%) and Denmark (2.2%) recorded the slowest expansion (see Figure 11).
Among EFTA and candidate countries, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland all recorded average rates of around 3.0% per annum, while Türkiye and Serbia experienced a faster annual growth (5.5% and 11.6% per annum, respectively) (see Figure 11).
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Source: Eurostat (isoc_sks_itspn2)
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
The data presented in this article are secondary statistics on ICT specialists derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Data on ICT specialists cover persons working as ICT specialists in all parts of the economy; no analysis by economic activity is available.
Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 came into force on 1 January 2021 and induced a break in the LFS time series (the source data) for all EU Member States. More information on the source data can be found via the online publication EU Labour Force Survey, which includes articles on the technical and methodological aspects of the survey. The EU-LFS methodology in force from the 2021 data collection onwards is described in Methodology from 2021 onwards.
Statistics for ICT specialists are constructed on the basis of the OECD definition (outlined at the start of this article) which is built on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). For data up until 2010, the definition was based on ISCO-88, whereas the data from 2011 onwards are based on ISCO-08; as such, there is a break in series in 2011. Under ISCO-08, Eurostat and the OECD define ICT specialists as people with the following occupations: ICT service managers; information and communications technology professionals (software and multimedia developers and analysts, and database specialists and systems administrators); information and communications technicians (ICT operations and user support technicians, and communications technicians); electronic engineers; telecommunication engineers; graphic and multimedia designers; information technology trainers; ICT sales professionals; electronics engineering technicians; electronics mechanics and servicers; ICT installers and servicers.
The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) provides a standard framework for education statistics. Data by level of educational attainment up until 2013 are classified according to ISCED 1997 and data from 2014 onwards are classified according to ISCED 2011, under which tertiary education is covered by levels 5-8. The 2011 edition of the ISCED classification defines education systems with respect to the following levels: Level 0 — less than primary education; Level 1 — primary education; Level 2 — lower secondary education; Level 3 — upper secondary education; Level 4 — post-secondary non-tertiary education; Level 5 — short-cycle tertiary education; Level 6 — bachelor's or equivalent level; Level 7 — master's or equivalent level; Level 8 — doctoral or equivalent level. For a more detailed listing and corresponding ISCO and ISCED codes, please refer to the metadata for statistics on ICT specialists in employment (see section on 'Methodology'). Labour Force Survey reference metadata should be consulted for further information relating to the underlying primary source data.
The economic activity is coded based on the Statistical classification of economic activities (NACE Rev. 2).
Context
Digitalisation and automation can generate new business opportunities through the development of new production processes, new products and new markets. Indeed, the impact of information and communication technologies within the workplace has generally resulted in increased productivity and efficiency, as well as a range of possibilities for more flexible working practices. While these changes have generated a wide range of new jobs, the introduction of ICTs has also led to job losses, for example, as a result of automation.
On 9 March 2021, the Commission presented the Digital Decade Communication, which sets a vision and targets for a successful digital transformation of Europe by 2030. The Commission proposed a digital compass, which sets out a way for achieving the EU's ambitions for a human-centred, sustainable and prosperous digital future. In particular, digitally skilled citizens and highly skilled digital professionals forms one of the fours cardinal point of the digital compass. The objective is to reach 20 million employed ICT specialists in the EU by 2030, coupled with a greater convergence of gender balance in taking up such jobs.
Monitoring the employment of ICT specialists is therefore important. In recent years, EU policies have given greater attention to ICT skills and in particular to the employment of ICT specialists as strong digital skills should strengthen the EU's competitive position in the digital world and drive Europe towards a more equal society.
The European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience launched to ensure that the right training, the right skills and the right support are available for people in the EU, have been extended to support cooperation between education, employment and industry to develop a pool of digital talent in the EU. Individuals and the labour force in general shall be equipped with adequate digital skills to prevent the loss of key ICT jobs in the European Union to other regions of the world.
Explore further
Other articles
Database
- Digital skills (isoc_sk)
- ICT specialists (isoc_sks)
- ICT specialists in employment (isoc_skslf)
- Employed ICT specialists - total (isoc_sks_itspt)
- Employed ICT specialists by sex (isoc_sks_itsps)
- Employed ICT specialists by educational attainment level (isoc_sks_itspe)
- Employed ICT specialists by age (isoc_sks_itspa)
- Employed ICT specialists by NACE Rev. 2 activity (isoc_sks_itspn2)
- ICT specialists in employment (isoc_skslf)
- ICT specialists (isoc_sks)
Methodology
- Employment and unemployment (labour force survey) (ESMS metadata file — employ_esms)
- ICT employment statistics in Europe: measurement methodology
- ICT specialists in employment (ESMS metadata file — isoc_skslf_esms)