Database of Companies in Germany: Top Industries and Biggest Players

According to our latest records (as of February 2022), there are more than 5.25M companies registered in Germany. Almost half of these companies operate in the service sector. More than half of all companies are registered in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg, while Berlin leads the chart among cities.

Browse through all businesses registered in Germany and filter them by name, address, identification number, contact details, industry, SIC Code, sales, or even the number of employees with HitHorizons Screener and HitHorizons API.

Mostly proprietorships and especially in services

Almost half of companies have a legal form of a proprietorship (49.46%), followed by corporations (32.2%), and NGOs (9.35%). The rest are entities with an unknown legal form, such as government institutions or joint ventures (10%).

The most represented industries among corporations are services (38.1%), then finance, insurance, and real estate (22.1%), and construction (8.8%). Among proprietorships, most companies operate in services (48.9%), then retail (21.5%), and construction (10.6%).

The most represented SIC Codes among corporations are management services (174,393), followed by real estate agents (164,819), and holding companies (149,200). Most proprietorships operate as eating places (145,677), health practitioner's offices (126,127), and business services (105,831).

75.62% of all companies registered in Germany operate in services (51.21%), retail (13.75%), and finance, insurance, and real estate (10.66%). Although only 4.32% of companies operate in manufacturing, the industry accounts for a significant portion of sales generated by all companies (27.51% of total sales). Finance, insurance, and real estate is second, with a share of 22.29%, followed by services with a share of 16.52%.

In terms of specific economic activities (SIC Codes), most companies operate as real estate agents (222,673; 4% of all companies). Civic, social, or fraternal associations account for 3.65%, and management services for 3.56%. A total of 31.43% of all companies registered in Germany operate in the top 10 SIC Codes.

More than 1 million companies are based in the state of Nord-Westfalen. Berlin tops the city ranking.

Almost 20% of companies are registered in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state of Bavaria is home to 966,000 companies (18.41%), while 675,000 companies are registered in Baden-Württemberg (12.86%). More than 68% of all German companies are distributed across just five states.

Former Soviet Bloc states Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Brandenburg rank lowest in total number of registered companies. These states also rank lower in total sales generated (5.6%) as well as employment (only 9.3% of all employees in Germany).

In terms of the number of companies in individual cities, Berlin is a leader with 4.94% of all entities. Hamburg is second (3.05%), while Munich is third (2.54%). More than 17% of all German companies are registered in the top ten cities.

Out of the top fifteen largest companies in terms of sales, four are automakers and three are manufacturing companies. According to our latest records (as of February 2022), at the top of the list is Volkswagen with EUR 222B a year. Annual sales generated by all of the 5.25M+ German companies are EUR 11.6T. The top 15 companies account for 11.28%.

The list of Germany’s top 15 employers includes 7 manufacturing companies, the German Railways (Deutsche Bahn AG), a telecommunication company, and chains of grocery stores. Germany’s largest employer is Volkswagen with 665,000 employees.

Add data on more than 5.25M Germany-based companies and 80M+ European businesses to any software.

Browse through all Germany-based companies and filter them by name, address, identification number, contact details, industry, SIC Code, sales, or even the number of employees with HitHorizons Screener and HitHorizons API.