Data extracted in December 2024
Planned article update: February 2026
Highlights
Collaboration in action - national statistical institutes work together to monitor large multinational enterprise groups, ensuring accurate data and informed decision-making.
9 years of joint analysis - European profiling brings national statistical institutes together to better understand multinational enterprise groups.
This article presents the experiences of national statistical institutes (NSIs) in European profiling, whether this involves a complete European profiling of some large multinational enterprise groups located in EU Member States and the EFTA area, including the delineation of their statistical units, or it is limited to profiling the group's structure only. This is a voluntary, organised and well-established collaborative process carried out by several national statistical institutes of EU Member States and EFTA countries supported by an online Eurostat application, the Interactive Profiling Tool (IPT), developed by Eurostat since 2015 and continuously improved with additional functionalities until present.
In 2024, for the reference year 2023, the national statistical institutes jointly profiled the structure of 182 multinational enterprise groups and carried out a complete European profiling of 39 of them. The 182 profiled multinational enterprise groups, employing around 3 million employees in EU-EFTA, accounted for 24 600 legal units located in 173 countries and linked by more than 31 300 relationships.
The objective of European profiling is to improve the quality of information of the largest multinational enterprise groups in the national statistical business registers and in the EuroGroups Register to support the production of high-quality business and macroeconomic statistics, especially when cross border phenomena can affect data consistency at European level. In European profiling the multinational enterprise groups (or MNE groups) are also known as global enterprise groups (GEGs).
In the European profiling process the national statistical institutes together define and agree on the legal, financial and economic structure of multinational enterprise groups and define their main economic activities irrespective of the geographical borders. The national statistical institutes' roles and responsibilities in European profiling are assigned according to the location of the unit in which the strategic decisions of the multinational enterprise groups are taken, i.e. the multinational enterprise groups global decision centre (GDC). The NSI having the role of GDC profiler:
- Leads the process;
- Selects the group for profiling;
- Collects information from the group;
- Carries out a global economic analysis of the group and shares the results with the partnering countries in which affiliated enterprises are located.
The NSIs that are partner profilers are responsible for:
- analysing and completing the information shared by the GDC profiler regarding their national territory,
- and for delineating their national statistical unit enterprise.
The profiling teams in EU and EFTA countries can access the IPT to store and exchange confidential statistical information. For an overview of the multinational enterprise groups profiled, their details, and participation of the national statistical institutes, read the full article below.
Overview of the profiled multinational enterprise groups
Between 2016 and 2024, for the reference years 2015-2023, 31 national statistical institutes from EU Member States and EFTA countries and the UK (2015-2018) jointly profiled, around 600 large multinational enterprise groups located in Europe, according to the European profiling methodology. Some multinational enterprise groups, also known as global enterprise groups (GEGs) in profiling terminology, that had changed their structure or economic activities from 1 year to the next or because their analysis was outdated were profiled for 1 or more reference years. In total, 948 profiling exercises were processed.
European profiling begins with the profiling of the groups' structure, i.e. the analysis of the legal and financial structure. This includes the identification and the collection of information of the legal units within the groups' control perimeter, and the financial control relationships between these units. This analysis is completed by the collection of the groups' main economic characteristics at global level. The complete European profiling methodology includes also the analysis of all the main economic activities carried out in the multinational enterprise group, the delineations of its national statistical unit enterprise and the data collections features.
Both the complete European profiling and the profiling limited to the structure of the groups, are handled in cooperation by different European national statistical institutes targeting important multinational enterprise groups operating in their countries. European national statistical institutes use an online Eurostat application, the Interactive Profiling Tool (IPT), according to a yearly cycle (with annual frequency). For each reference year from 2015-2023 an IPT cycle was completed.
The 2023 IPT cycle started in April 2024, involving 182 multinational enterprise groups of relevant economic size including 24 600 legal units located in 173 different countries, as shown in Map 1. Most of the legal units belonging to the groups were located in the EU-EFTA countries (59%), 15% in the United States of America, 5% in the United Kingdom and 2% in China.
National statistical institutes selected the multinational enterprise groups in April 2024 after the closed reference year 2023 and finished the profiling exercise at the end of November 2024. During this period data are accessible and shared to the national statistical institutes in the IPT tool. The final results are available end November, 11 months after the closed reference year. Data sources are the direct contacts with the multinational enterprise groups or the consolidated annual financial reports. The final results are integrated into the Eurogroups Register and can be used for statistical purposes only.
Details of the profiled multinational enterprise groups
For the reference years 2015-2023, 31 national statistical institutes from EU Member States and EFTA countries and the UK (reference years 2015-2018) used the IPT to jointly handle 948 profiling exercises on around 600 large multinational enterprise groups. As shown in Figure 1, for 2023 the national statistical institutes profiled the structure of 182 multinational enterprise groups and carried out a complete European profiling of 39 of them.
In European profiling the participating NSIs follow a clear assignment of roles and responsibilities. A GDC national statistical institute leads the profiling and handles the global picture of the multinational enterprise groups, while the partner national statistical institutes focus on the part of the global enterprise group located in their countries.
For the reference year 2023, 182 multinational enterprise groups were covered, either by a complete European profiling or profiling of the structure only. This second possibility was made possible by a new version of the IPT, which allowed to considerably increase the number of monitored multinational enterprise groups.
Since the reference year 2022, the number of profiled multinational enterprise groups have risen sharply, exceeding 140 profiled multinational enterprise groups per year. For the reference years 2015-2021, the national statistical institutes profiled around 90 multinational enterprise groups per cycle, with a peak of 117 multinational enterprise groups profiled during the 2017 cycle. From 2018 onwards, the United Kingdom no longer participated in the European profiling, which had an impact on the total number of multinational enterprise groups profiled in the subsequent years. As in previous years, for the reference year 2023 most of the GDCs (98%) were based in Europe while only 2% were located outside Europe. For the GDCs outside Europe, the GDC profiling role was assigned to a European national statistical institute that was particularly interested in analysing that multinational enterprise group because of a significant presence of foreign affiliates operating in its country.
Structure of the profiled multinational enterprise groups
In 2023, the profiling of the 182 multinational enterprise groups included the update of their legal and financial structures, i.e. the update of the legal units within the multinational enterprise groups' control perimeter and the relationships between these legal units. The national statistical institutes initiated the profiling with the 2022 reference year data. The initial structures of 182 multinational enterprise groups comprised a total of 29 011 legal units, linked by 28 829 relationships. By the end of the cycle, with the updated information for the reference year 2023, the perimeters of the 182 multinational enterprise groups had evolved to include 24 600 legal units, with their structures comprising 31 327 relationships, as depicted in Figure 2.
For reference year 2023, within the 182 multinational enterprise groups' structures, around 14 000 relationships were domestic, i.e. between legal units from the same country, and around 17 300 were cross-border relationships, i.e. between legal units from different countries, as shown in Figure 3.
Main activity of the profiled multinational enterprise groups
During the 9 IPT cycles, the profiled multinational enterprise groups carried out a large variety of main activities, covering 17 NACE sections. However, as shown in Figure 4 some sectors stood out. Manufacturing (NACE section C) ranked first, as it accounted for 47% up to 59% of multinational enterprise groups activities, depending on the different reference years. Wholesale and retail trade (NACE section G) ranked second, accounting for 9% up to 18% of the multinational enterprise groups.
Size of the profiled multinational enterprise groups
Figure 5 illustrates that, over the 9 IPT cycles, the majority of the profiled multinational enterprise groups had fewer than 100 legal units within their perimeters of consolidation. Moreover, for the reference year 2023, the average size of the profiled MNE groups decreased compared with the previous 3 years. Nevertheless, when considering the profiled multinational enterprise groups in terms of legal units to be checked, a significant increase is observed during the latest 2 IPT cycles, primarily due to the expansion in the number of profiled multinational enterprise groups, as shown in Figure 6.
During an IPT cycle, the national statistical institutes collect high-quality economic data and information on multinational enterprise groups at the global level, including employment and main activity (NACE), directly from the headquarters of the multinational enterprise groups. For the reference years 2015-2023, the majority of the profiled multinational enterprise groups had a global workforce of fewer than 10 000 people, as illustrated in Figure 7. However, the size of the profiled multinational enterprise groups varied significantly from 1 IPT cycle to another and from 1 multinational enterprise group to another. For example, in 2023, the largest profiled multinational enterprise groups employed over 645 400 people worldwide, while the smallest 1 employed fewer than 50.
Over the last 2 years, Eurostat and national statistical institutes have identified the largest and most significant multinational enterprise groups operating in Europe. Eurostat, in collaboration with EU and EFTA countries, created the Complex and Statistical Impact (CSI) index. This CSI index ranks multinational enterprise groups based on several size criteria, including:
- global employment
- number of legal units
- countries of operation
- economic activities
- hierarchical levels in the group structure
The CSI index helps to select around 1 500 key multinational enterprise groups to be monitored each year. The main goal is to track changes in these multinational enterprise groups more accurately over time.
Multinational enterprise groups profiled by national statistical institutes
For the reference year 2023, European national statistical institutes collaboratively profiled the structure of 182 multinational enterprise groups and carried out a complete European profiling of 39 of them, as shown in Figure 8.
The national statistical institutes updated the control perimeter of the multinational enterprise groups, i.e. all the legal units controlled by the multinational enterprise group were validated. For the reference year 2023, the national statistical institutes updated more than 24 600 legal units, on average around 135 per multinational enterprise groups. However, according to the size of the multinational enterprise groups selected by the country of the global decision centre, the total number of legal units to be checked varied considerably from a country to another, ranging from fewer than 10 legal units to over 4 500, as shown in Figure 9.
European profiling, a joint analysis
The European profiling is a collaborative effort, in which the GDC profiler updates the global enterprise group's structure and its characteristics worldwide for the reference year, while the partners review their respective national components. In the case of complete European profiling, these activities also extend to the delineation of the statistical unit enterprise.
For the reference year 2023, the majority of the control perimeter of 65 out of 182 were validated by EU-EFTA profilers, as shown as shown in Figure 10. The profilers acting either as GDC or partner validated their legal units and also the relationships involving them. Taking into account GDC and partnering profilers, more than 50% of the perimeter of 65 groups have been validated and less than 50% of the perimeter of 117 groups have not. The partial validation of the profiled multinational enterprise groups was due to the absence of few EU-EFTA countries in the exercise. In addition, some participating national statistical institutes could not check the national parts of all the multinational enterprise groups located in their countries due to the resource constraints at their national level.
The quality of information for a multinational enterprise group directly depends on the active participation of the countries where the group operates. The number of multinational enterprise groups that are potentially profiled as partners and those that are actually profiled, i.e. when the national parts of multinational enterprise groups are validated by partners, varies from country to country, as shown in Figure 11. Active partnering is influenced by the geographical location of the groups selected by GDC profilers, the interest of partners in these groups, and resource constraints.
Details of the European profiling of the multinational enterprise groups
For the reference year 2023, NSI performed a complete European profiling on 39 multinational enterprise groups. In total for the reference years 2015-2023, NSIs handled 739 European profiling cases on 469 large multinational enterprise groups, as some of them were profiled more than once.
During the 9 IPT cycles, NSIs collaboratively profiled the multinational enterprise groups as GDC or as partners. As previously mentioned, the complete European profiling goes further than the profiling of the structure as it also includes the analysis of the multinational enterprise groups' main economic activities, the delineations of its national statistical unit enterprises and the collection of their characteristics. The GDC national statistical institute carries out the global economic analysis of the multinational enterprise groups, including an analysis of their global economic activities, while the partner national statistical institutes are responsible for performing the analysis on their resident affiliates and statistical units.
For the reference year 2023, the share of intensive European profiling increased from 5% to 26%, following a 3 year period of significant decline, as shown in Figure 12. In intensive profiling, GDC profilers meet with the multinational enterprise groups' representatives to exchange information, discuss the worldwide groups' structure, and collect data on NACE, employment and consolidated turnover. This share remained rather stable for the reference years 2015-2019. Between 2019 and 2022, the share of intensive profiling fell sharply from 34% to 5%. This turnaround was triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the difficulties in the meeting groups' representatives. The national statistical institutes therefore developed digital data collection techniques such as web-scrapping and national statistical institutes mainly carried out light profiling. In light profiling GDC profilers collect data from and base their analysis on annual financial reports, websites, and other available administrative and statistical sources. When national statistical institutes profiled a non-EU GDCs, they could perform only light profiling.
The complete European profiling includes the delineation of the statistical unit enterprises. According to Council regulation 0696/1993, the enterprise is "the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources". At the end of the IPT cycle, enterprises are aligned with the national statistical business registers and directly integrated into the EuroGroups Register.
Economic features of European enterprises of the profiled multinational enterprise groups
For the reference year 2023, the NSIs delineated and validated 437 EU-EFTA enterprises within the 39 profiled multinational enterprise groups. These enterprises employed a total of more than 377 200 people in EU-EFTA countries and generated a turnover of over €411 000 million. As Figure 13 shows, employment and turnover were highly concentrated in the largest enterprises. For 2023, 1% of the largest EU-EFTA enterprises, employing more than 1 000 persons, accounted for 43% of the employment of these enterprises and 37% of their turnover.
National statistical institutes' participation in European profiling
In total, for the reference years 2015-2023, 26 GDC national statistical institutes led 739 European profiling cases. Out of 26 national statistical institutes, 4 national statistical institutes took part in all the 9 IPT cycles. The total number of European profiling cases carried out by GDC national statistical institutes during this period, fluctuated from 1 to 126 multinational enterprise groups per country, as shown in Figure 14.
During the 9 IPT cycles, national statistical institutes collaborated on 739 European profiling cases, accounting for more than 91 200 legal units in total, and around 10 130 legal units per cycle. As shown in Figure 15, the distribution of the profiled multinational enterprise groups in term of legal units fluctuated from one country to another.
Data sources
European profiling uses several sources, such as the EuroGroups register, Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (OFATS), specific information provided during direct contacts between profilers and the groups' representatives, the Annual Financial Reports published by the group which provide a presentation of their activity, their consolidated accounts and other qualitative information on multinational enterprises restructurings, investment plans etc., websites which provide a great deal of useful information on the governance structure of the multinational enterprise groups, their business segments, figures on employments and countries of affiliates. Data on multinational enterprise groups provided by EU or EFTA countries during the European profiling cycles are stored in the IPT that serves as a secure and interactive platform to support the process and as a database. The output of European profiling, containing micro data on multinational enterprise groups, their constituent ENTs and LEUs, is produced annually at the end of each cycle and transmitted to national statistical institutes in EU Member States and EFTA countries by Eurostat using the secure channel of the Commission, if there is at least 1 legal unit resident in the country. Data can only be used to produce official statistics in the European statistical system.
Context
Globalisation and the increasing complexity of the activities of multinational enterprise groups pose challenges to the production of business statistics and macroeconomic statistics and to the correct and consistent reflection of multinational enterprise groups' activities in national statistics. As a prerequisite to better analyse cross border transactions of large multinational enterprise groups and correctly record them in national statistics, statisticians in the ESS need to be able to observe the complete and correct economic structures of the multinational enterprise groups that are mainly responsible for large transactions and operations and have a significant impact on data consistency in the countries where they operate.
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Database
Data from the profiling are aligned with the national statistical business registers and, since 2023 integrated in the EuroGroups Register. The access to the profiling data is restricted to produce official statistics in the EU and EFTA countries.