By Aijaz Alam
What percentage of EU businesses use AI?
19.95% of EU enterprises with 10 or more employees used at least one AI technology in 2025, according to Eurostat's survey of ICT use in enterprises, up from 13.48% in 2024 and 7.65% in 2021. Large enterprises lead at 55.03%, against 17% of small ones; Denmark is highest at 42.03% and Romania lowest at 5.21%.
- 19.95%EU enterprises with 10+ staff using at least one AI technologyEurostat, 2025 survey
- 55.03%Large enterprises (250+ staff) using AIEurostat, 2025 survey
- 17%Small enterprises (10 to 49 staff) using AIEurostat, 2025 survey
- 42.03%Denmark, the highest EU countryEurostat, 2025 survey
- 70.89%Firms that considered AI but did not use it, citing lack of expertiseEurostat, 2025 survey
The numbers
The full breakdown
EU enterprises using at least one AI technology, by size, 2021 to 2025
| Size (employees and self-employed) | 2021 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small (10 to 49) | 6.12% | 6.41% | 11.21% | 17% |
| Medium (50 to 249) | 12.55% | 13.07% | 20.97% | 30.36% |
| Large (250 or more) | 28.41% | 30.48% | 41.17% | 55.03% |
| All enterprises (10 or more) | 7.65% | 8.06% | 13.48% | 19.95% |
Eurostat database isoc_eb_ai (updated 15 Jun 2026); the 2024 and 2025 values are the same in Eurostat's article (Figure 1). No survey of AI use in 2022. Firms with fewer than 10 staff, agriculture, mining and finance are not covered. Each year is the survey run in the first months of that year.
Enterprises using AI, by country, 2024 and 2025
| Country | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark | 27.58% | 42.03% |
| Finland | 24.37% | 37.82% |
| Sweden | 25.09% | 35.04% |
| Belgium | 24.71% | 34.54% |
| Luxembourg | 23.73% | 33.61% |
| Netherlands | 23.06% | 33.21% |
| Austria | 20.27% | 29.95% |
| Germany | 19.75% | 25.97% |
| Estonia | 13.89% | 23.4% |
| Slovenia | 20.89% | 21.61% |
| Malta | 17.3% | 21.51% |
| Lithuania | 8.76% | 21.3% |
| Spain | 11.31% | 20.27% |
| Ireland | 14.9% | 19.64% |
| France | 9.91% | 18.16% |
| Slovakia | 10.78% | 18% |
| Czechia | 11.26% | 17.6% |
| Italy | 8.2% | 16.4% |
| Croatia | 11.76% | 15.19% |
| Latvia | 8.83% | 12.21% |
| Portugal | 8.63% | 11.54% |
| Hungary | 7.41% | 10.37% |
| Cyprus | 7.9% | 9.27% |
| Greece | 9.81% | 8.93% |
| Bulgaria | 6.47% | 8.55% |
| Poland | 5.9% | 8.36% |
| Romania | 3.07% | 5.21% |
| EU (27 countries) | 13.48% | 19.95% |
| Norway (not EU) | 20.77% | 28.89% |
Eurostat database isoc_eb_ai (updated 15 Jun 2026), enterprises with 10 or more employees. Break in series for the Netherlands in 2025. The December 2025 article (Figure 2 data) gave Malta 21.56%; the database now shows 21.51%. Every other country matches the article. 26 of the 27 EU countries rose; only Greece fell.
EU enterprises using AI, by economic activity, 2025
| Economic activity (NACE Rev. 2) | Using AI |
|---|---|
| Computer programming, consultancy and information services | 65.7% |
| Information and communication (all) | 62.52% |
| Scientific research and development | 52.08% |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities (all) | 40.43% |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 33.57% |
| Real estate activities | 24.76% |
| Wholesale trade | 23.42% |
| Administrative and support services | 19.86% |
| Manufacturing | 17.27% |
| Retail trade | 15.46% |
| Accommodation and food services | 11.98% |
| Transportation and storage | 11.15% |
| Construction | 10.79% |
Eurostat database isoc_eb_ain2 (updated 15 Jun 2026), enterprises with 10 or more employees. All covered activities: 19.95%. The December 2025 article gave real estate 24.82%; the database now shows 24.76%. The article's Figure 3 also groups two activities differently: electricity, gas and steam together with water supply and waste (18.16%), and accommodation without food services (21.31%); the database rows above are electricity, gas and steam alone and accommodation and food services together.
Which AI technologies EU enterprises use, 2025 (share of all enterprises)
| AI technology | Share of all enterprises |
|---|---|
| Text mining (analysing written language) | 11.75% |
| Generating pictures, videos, sound or audio | 9.55% |
| Generating written or spoken language or code | 8.76% |
| Speech recognition | 7.22% |
| Automating workflows or assisting decisions (AI-based robotic process automation) | 5.35% |
| Machine learning for data analysis | 5.1% |
| Image recognition or processing | 3.78% |
| Autonomous movement of machines (robots, self-driving vehicles, drones) | 1.39% |
Eurostat database isoc_eb_ai, enterprises with 10 or more employees; a firm can use several. 12.95% used at least two technologies. Among large enterprises, text mining (35.04%) and generating language or code (31.68%) lead.
What AI-using enterprises use it for, 2025 (share of enterprises using AI)
| Purpose | All AI-using enterprises | Small AI users (10 to 49) | Large AI users (250+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing or sales | 34.70% | 34.06% | 37.89% |
| Business administration or management | 31.05% | 28.49% | 43.38% |
| Accounting, controlling or finance management | 23.11% | 22.2% | 28.26% |
| Production processes | 20.76% | 19.02% | 33.46% |
| ICT security | 19.77% | 14.51% | 47.51% |
| Research and development or innovation | 19.05% | 17.33% | 29.67% |
| Logistics | 6.08% | 4.92% | 14.94% |
Eurostat article "Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises" (data extracted December 2025), Figure 5 and its data file (2025_Enterprises_using_AI_tables_and_graphs.xlsx). Medium-sized AI users sit between the two columns shown. ICT security shows the biggest gap between small and large firms.
Why EU enterprises that considered AI did not use it, 2025
| Reason for not using AI | Share of enterprises that considered AI but did not use it |
|---|---|
| Lack of relevant expertise | 70.89% |
| Lack of clarity about the legal consequences | 52.52% |
| Concerns about data protection and privacy | 48.83% |
| Difficulties with the availability or quality of the data needed | 44.37% |
| Incompatibility with existing equipment, software or systems | 41.39% |
| Costs seem too high | 33.34% |
| Ethical considerations | 23.53% |
| AI not useful for the enterprise | 20.68% |
Eurostat article, 2025 (Figure 8 and its data file). A firm can give several reasons. 14.21% of enterprises that did not use AI had considered it (36.54% of large, 22.26% of medium, 12.65% of small), up 2.02 points on 2024. Lack of relevant expertise was the most common reason and "not useful" the least common.
Why sources differ
Same question, different answers
| Number | When | Who measured | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19.95% | 2025 | Eurostat | EU enterprises with 10 or more staff; at least one of eight AI technologies; official survey of 157,000 firms. |
| 20.2% | 2025 | OECD | Firms in OECD countries with data, mostly 10 or more staff; includes non-EU countries. |
| 24.6% | 5-18 Oct 2026 | US Census Bureau, BTOS | US employer firms of every size, AI in any business function in the last two weeks. |
| 88% | Jun - Jul 2025 | McKinsey global survey | Share of 1,993 respondents, many at large firms, whose organization uses AI in at least one function. |
Eurostat's 19.95% is an official count of firms, and most EU firms with 10 or more staff are small: about 83% of the 1.53 million enterprises covered are small, 14% medium and 3% large. Because every firm counts once, the result sits close to the small-firm rate (17%), far below the large-firm rate (55.03%).
The OECD figure (20.2%) uses the same kind of survey and largely the same firms, so it lands in almost the same place. The US Census figure (24.6%) includes firms with fewer than 10 employees, asks about any business function and only the last two weeks, and comes from late 2026, a year and a half after the Eurostat fieldwork. McKinsey's 88% counts survey respondents rather than firms, and many of them work at large companies (38% at organizations with more than $1 billion in revenue), where AI use is highest in every survey. None of these numbers is wrong; they measure different populations at different times.
What it means
How to use these numbers
One EU enterprise in five used AI in 2025, and adoption is accelerating: the share rose by 0.41 points from 2021 to 2023 and by 6.47 points from 2024 to 2025 alone. Large firms are past the halfway mark, but most EU firms are small, and only 17% of small firms use AI.
The country gap is wide. The Nordic countries, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are at a third or more; Poland, Bulgaria and Romania are under 9%. Sector matters as much: nearly two-thirds of computer programming and IT service firms use AI, against about one in ten construction and transport firms.
For a small business or a vendor selling to one, the barriers table is the useful part. Firms that looked at AI and passed mostly lacked expertise (70.89%), were unsure of the legal consequences (52.52%) or worried about data protection (48.83%); only about one in five decided it was not useful. Training and clear legal guidance matter more than persuading firms that AI has value.
The next Eurostat release, with 2026 survey data, is planned for December 2026.
Method and sources
How it was measured
Method
- Publisher
- Eurostat, community survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises; article "Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises" and databases isoc_eb_ai and isoc_eb_ain2
- Sample
- 157,000 of 1.53 million EU enterprises surveyed by national statistical offices in the first months of 2025
- Definition
- Uses at least one of eight AI technologies: text mining, speech recognition, language or code generation, picture, video or sound generation, image recognition, machine learning for data analysis, AI-based workflow automation, autonomous machines
- Population
- Enterprises with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons, excluding agriculture, mining and finance
- Checked at source
- 31 Oct 2026: the Statistics Explained article (last edited 23 Oct 2026) and the isoc_eb_ai and isoc_eb_ain2 databases (updated 15 Jun 2026) on ec.europa.eu
- Next release
- Planned article update December 2026
- Last changed
- 31 Oct 2026
- Data files
- CSV · JSON (stable links)
Sources
- ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises, Eurostat Official data
- ICT Access and Usage Database, OECD Official data
- Business Trends and Outlook Survey, US Census Bureau Official data
- The State of AI (McKinsey Global Survey), McKinsey & Company Survey
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FAQ
More questions people ask
Which EU country uses AI the most?
Denmark: 42.03% of enterprises with 10 or more staff used AI in 2025, followed by Finland (37.82%) and Sweden (35.04%). Romania (5.21%), Poland (8.36%) and Bulgaria (8.55%) were lowest.
What do EU businesses use AI for?
Among AI-using enterprises, 34.70% used it for marketing or sales and 31.05% for business administration or management; only 6.08% for logistics. Large firms use it far more for ICT security (47.51%) than small firms (14.51%).
Does the EU figure include micro businesses?
No. Eurostat's AI figures cover enterprises with 10 or more employees and self-employed persons, so the many firms with fewer than 10 staff are not counted.
What is the EU's target?
The Digital Decade programme aims for three out of four EU companies to use cloud computing services, big data or artificial intelligence by 2030.
Every number on this page was checked at its original source (Eurostat, OECD, US Census Bureau, McKinsey & Company). Free to cite with a link to this page.