According to our latest records (as of February 2022), there are more than 5.25Mcompanies 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 Berlinleads 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%).
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in February 2022 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%).
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in Feb 2022 Germany: Industries with the highest number of entities registered as corporations and proprietorships
Industries Corpo
rationsProprie
torshipsCorporations Proprietorships Services 643,582 38.1% 1,268,843 48.9% Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate 374,315 22.1% 130,739 5.0% Construction 148,998 8.8% 276,061 10.6% Wholesale Trade 143,454 8.5% 71,393 2.7% Manufacturing 139,445 8.2% 78,309 3.0% Retail Trade 125,190 7.4% 557,287 21.5% Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas, and Sanitary Services 89,815 5.3% 82,549 3.2% Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing 21,229 1.3% 124,293 4.8% Mining 2,167 0.1% 591 0.0% Public Sector 1,517 0.1% 2,024 0.1% Unknown industry 1,306 0.1% 5,337 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).
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in Feb 2022 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 estateis second, with a share of 22.29%, followed by serviceswith a share of 16.52%.
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in February 2022 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 associationsaccount for 3.65%, and management servicesfor 3.56%. A total of 31.43% of all companies registered in Germany operate in the top 10 SIC Codes.
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in February 2022 Germany: Distribution of companies by SIC Codes
SIC code Number of companies Share Real estate agent/manager 222,673 4.24% Civic/social association 191,813 3.65% Management services 187,085 3.56% Eating place 181,052 3.45% Business services 172,433 3.28% Holding company 159,502 3.04% Membership organization 152,456 2.9% Health practitioners office 136,400 2.6% Medical doctors office 132,530 2.52% Engineering services 115,070 2.19% Beauty shop 105,776 2.01% Services-misc 81,680 1.56% Insurance agent/broker 78,412 1.49% Legal services office 72,116 1.37% Business consulting services 70,925 1.35% Computer related services 68,864 1.31% Sports club/manager/promoter 65,508 1.25% Carpentry contractor 64,145 1.22% Elementary/secondary school 57,930 1.1% Plumbing/heating/air conditioning contractor 57,252 1.09%
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 Bavariais 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.
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in February 2022 Germany: Distribution of companies by states
State / Province Number of companies Share Nordrhein-Westfalen 1,033,748 19.68% Bayern 966,738 18.41% Baden-Württemberg 675,197 12.86% Niedersachsen 472,859 9% Hessen 431,568 8.22% Berlin 260,535 4.96% Rheinland-Pfalz 256,799 4.89% Sachsen 224,384 4.27% Schleswig-Holstein 192,251 3.66% Hamburg 160,227 3.05% Brandenburg 153,175 2.92% Thüringen 120,587 2.3% Sachsen-Anhalt 116,839 2.22% Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 89,750 1.71% Saarland 54,734 1.04% Bremen 41,788 0.8% Unknown 491 0.01%
Former Soviet Bloc states Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Brandenburgrank 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).
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in February 2022 Germany: States’ sales and number of employees (from highest to lowest)
State / Province Sales (mil. EUR) Share Number of employees Share Nordrhein-Westfalen € 2,902,241 24.8% € 12,627,520 22.8% Bayern € 2,093,307 17.9% € 9,867,189 17.8% Baden-Württemberg € 1,969,949 16.9% € 7,802,808 14.1% Niedersachsen € 1,000,729 8.6% € 5,285,465 9.6% Hessen € 1,144,869 9.8% € 5,245,109 9.5% Berlin € 429,118 3.7% € 2,691,818 4.9% Rheinland-Pfalz € 396,409 3.4% € 2,147,035 3.9% Sachsen € 220,580 1.9% € 1,718,179 3.1% Schleswig-Holstein € 237,822 2% € 1,487,520 2.7% Hamburg € 669,183 5.7% € 1,986,185 3.6% Brandenburg € 136,366 1.2% € 1,015,477 1.8% Thüringen € 105,689 0.9% € 878,278 1.6% Sachsen-Anhalt € 118,194 1% € 878,375 1.6% Mecklenburg-Vorpommern € 72,835 0.6% € 650,193 1.2% Saarland € 87,231 0.7% € 523,769 0.9% Bremen € 99,682 0.9% € 484,879 0.9% Unknown € 560 0.01% € 5,446 0.01% Total € 11,684,764 € 55,295,245
In terms of the number of companies in individual cities, Berlinis a leader with 4.94% of all entities. Hamburgis second (3.05%), while Munichis third (2.54%). More than 17% of all German companies are registered in the top ten cities.
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in February 2022 Germany: TOP 10 cities with the highest number of companies registered
City Number of companies Share Berlin 259,377 4.94% Hamburg 160,216 3.05% München 133,561 2.54% Köln 71,148 1.35% Frankfurt am Main 64,477 1.23% Düsseldorf 57,627 1.1% Stuttgart 44,229 0.84% Bremen 36,008 0.69% Hannover 35,478 0.68% Nürnberg 33,933 0.65% Other 4,355,608 82.94%
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 Volkswagenwith 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%.
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in February 2022 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 Volkswagenwith 665,000 employees.
Source: HitHorizons.com, data accessed in February 2022 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%
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. Add data on more than 5.25M Germany-based companies and 80M+ European businesses to any software.
