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%).

Germany: Distribution of companies by legal form

Legal form Share
Proprietorship 49.46%
Corporation 32.2%
Non Profit Organization 9.35%
Partnership Of Unknown Type 5%
Unknown Type 1.78%
Cooperative 1.69%
Local Government Body 0.37%
Foreign Company 0.15%
Joint Venture 0.01%

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%).

Germany: Industries with the highest number of entities registered as corporations and proprietorships

Industries
Services 38.1% 48.9%
Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate 22.1% 5.0%
Construction 8.8% 10.6%
Wholesale Trade 8.5% 2.7%
Manufacturing8.2% 3.0%
Retail Trade 7.4% 21.5%
Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas, and Sanitary Services 5.3% 3.2%
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing 1.3% 4.8%
Mining 0.1% 0.0%
Public Sector 0.1% 0.1%
Unknown industry 0.1% 0.2%

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).

SIC Codes with the highest number of companies registered as corporations and proprietorships

Corporations
Management services 174,393
Real estate agent/manager 164,819
Holding company 149,200
Engineering services 53,056
Computer related services 45,711
Business services 45,170
Business consulting services 38,367
Custom computer programming 28,948
Eating place 27,280
Electric services 26,645
Proprietorships
Eating place 145,677
Health practitioner's office 126,127
Business services 105,831
Medical doctor's office 103,623
Beauty shop 98,745
Insurance agent/broker 63,737
Services-misc 63,294
Engineering services 55,068
Legal services office 54,867
Carpentry contractor 48,536

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%.

Germany: Distribution of companies by industry

Industry Share
Services 51.21%
Retail Trade 13.75%
Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate 10.66%
Construction 8.47%
Manufacturing 4.32%
Wholesale Trade 4.26%
Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas, and Sanitary Services 3.5%
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing 3.09%
Public Sector 0.54%
Unknown industry 0.15%
Mining 0.05%

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.

Germany: Distribution of companies by SIC Codes

SIC code Number of companies
Real estate agent/manager 222,673
Civic/social association 191,813
Management services 187,085
Eating place 181,052
Business services 172,433
Holding company 159,502
Membership organization 152,456
Health practitioners office 136,400
Medical doctors office 132,530
Engineering services 115,070
Beauty shop 105,776
Services-misc 81,680
Insurance agent/broker 78,412
Legal services office 72,116
Business consulting services 70,925
Computer related services 68,864
Sports club/manager/promoter 65,508
Carpentry contractor 64,145
Elementary/secondary school 57,930
Plumbing/heating/air conditioning contractor 57,252

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.

Germany: Distribution of companies by states

State / Province Number of companies
Nordrhein-Westfalen 1,033,748
Bayern 966,738
Baden-Württemberg 675,197
Niedersachsen 472,859
Hessen 431,568
Berlin 260,535
Rheinland-Pfalz 256,799
Sachsen 224,384
Schleswig-Holstein 192,251
Hamburg 160,227
Brandenburg 153,175
Thüringen 120,587
Sachsen-Anhalt 116,839
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 89,750
Saarland 54,734
Bremen 41,788
Unknown 491

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).

Germany: States’ sales and number of employees (from highest to lowest)

State / Province Sales (mil. EUR) Number of employees
Nordrhein-Westfalen 2,902,241 12,627,520
Bayern 2,093,307 9,867,189
Baden-Württemberg 1,969,949 7,802,808
Niedersachsen 1,000,729 5,285,465
Hessen 1,144,869 5,245,109
Berlin 429,118 2,691,818
Rheinland-Pfalz 396,409 2,147,035
Sachsen 220,580 1,718,179
Schleswig-Holstein 237,822 1,487,520
Hamburg 669,183 1,986,185
Brandenburg 136,366 1,015,477
Thüringen 105,689 878,278
Sachsen-Anhalt 118,194 878,375
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 72,835 650,193
Saarland 87,231 523,769
Bremen 99,682 484,879
Unknown 560 5,446
Total € 11,684,764 55,295,245

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.

Germany: TOP 10 cities with the highest number of companies registered

City Number of companies
Berlin 259,377
Hamburg 160,216
München 133,561
Köln 71,148
Frankfurt am Main 64,477
Düsseldorf 57,627
Stuttgart 44,229
Bremen 36,008
Hannover 35,478
Nürnberg 33,933
Other 4,355,608

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%.

Germany: TOP 15 companies in terms of sales

Companies Sales Share
VOLKSWAGEN AG € 222,884,000,000 1.91%
Daimler AG € 154,309,345,000 1.32%
Schwarz Beteiligungs-KG € 114,302,000,000 0.98%
Deutsche Telekom AG € 100,999,000,000 0.86%
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG € 98,990,000,000 0.85%
Robert Bosch Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung € 77,721,000,000 0.67%
Uniper Global Commodities SE € 77,077,700,000 0.66%
Deutsche Post AG € 66,806,000,000 0.57%
E.ON SE € 60,944,000,000 0.52%
INA-Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG € 59,981,000,000 0.51%
BASF SE € 59,149,000,000 0.51%
Siemens AG € 57,139,000,000 0.49%
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG € 56,867,000,000 0.49%
AUDI AG € 55,680,000,000 0.48%
REWE-ZENTRALFINANZ eG € 55,374,300,000 0.47%
Top 15 largest companies € 1,318,223,345,000 11.28%
Total € 11,684,763,594,753 100%

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.

Germany: TOP 15 employers

Companies Number of employees
VOLKSWAGEN AG 665,445 1.2%
INA-Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG 320,432 0.58%
Deutsche Post AG 319,998 0.58%
Fresenius Management SE 305,706 0.55%
Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA 305,000 0.55%
Siemens AG 299,000 0.54%
Daimler AG 293,143 0.53%
Deutsche Bahn AG 249,251 0.45%
Continental AG 235,480 0.43%
Deutsche Telekom AG 223,539 0.4%
Robert Bosch Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung 218,377 0.39%
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG 193,683 0.35%
Bundesland Niedersachsen 186,000 0.34%
ZF Friedrichshafen AG 155,502 0.28%
thyssenkrupp AG 149,889 0.27%
Top 15 largest companies 4,120,445 7.45%
All employees 55,295,246 100%

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.

This website uses cookies

We use cookies to personalise content and provide features and analytical purposes. By clicking “Accept all”, you consent to our use of cookies. For further information, see our Cookies Policy and our Privacy Policy.

Customise Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

Essential cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

These cookies allow us to analyse our site's usage and improve the site's functionality. Analytical cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting and reporting information anonymously.