Nokia number of employees worldwide 2005-2023

In 2023, Nokia had approximately 86,900 employees situated in around 130 locations throughout the world.

Returning to Profitability

The Finnish company has transitioned from producing cellular devices to network equipment, a shift that is accompanied by ongoing cost-saving initiatives. One of Nokia’s cost-cutting strategies is layoffs, including 350 jobs in its home country of Finland, out of the 6000 employees based there. The company hopes to save 700 million euros in annual costs over 2019 and 2020. In total Nokia currently spends more than six billion euros annually on salaries and wages.

Smartphone manufacturer moves to 5G

Nokia has undergone several directional changes throughout the last few decades. Once a successful phone manufacturer in the early 2000s, the company struggled with increasingly overwhelming competition from Apple and Samsung. One reason for Nokia’s declining share within the mobile phone market was remaining committed to their own mobile operating system Symbian (OS) for too long before switching to Google’s Android OS. After an unsuccessful partnership with Microsoft in 2013 - Nokia sold its mobile and devices segment to Microsoft the following year - the company turned its focus to network infrastructure. In recent years, Nokia has invested a lot into the research and development of 5G cellular network