Enterprises registered in Spain 2023, by number of employees

Small companies were the most common enterprise model in Spain as of 2023. That year, there were more than 1.7 million companies that had no employees. On the other side of the coin, only 190 companies had 5000 or more employees.

Large companies

In 2022, five Spanish companies had a workforce of over 100,000 persons: ACS, Inditex, Mercadona, Prosegur and Telefonica. With more than 165 thousand employees, the multinational clothing company Inditex ranked as the firm with the largest staff in the country. However, in terms of sectorial distribution of the largest companies by number of employees, the leaders were active in the areas of corporate services and retail trade.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Small- and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, are a crucial element of the Spanish economic fabric. Not only do they constitute the vast majority of the companies in Spain, but they also employ the largest share of the workforce. The overwhelming majority of small and medium-sized enterprises are micro, meaning that they employ fewer than ten workers. Despite their small staff, the 2.7 million micro firms present in 2023 had a remarkably higher number of persons employed than their larger counterparts. That year, the contribution of SMEs to the Spanish economy amounted to 384 billion euros (micro firms alone gave almost 170 billion euros).