Which EU countries' companies use AI the most and least?
In 2025, between 5 percent of companies (Romania) and 42 percent (Denmark) used AI, among firms with 10 or more employees; the EU average was 20 percent. Germany was at 26 percent, Spain 20, France 18 and Portugal 12, with the Nordic countries and the Netherlands at 33 to 42 percent.
- High confidence
- 5 primary sources
- 2025 to 2026
- Last checked
Every study on one scale
Chart values as text
- Scale: % of companies (10+ employees) using AI, 2025. Shaded range: 5–42% across EU countries.
- Eurostat, Denmark (top) (2025): Denmark 42.0%
- Eurostat, Germany (2025): Germany 26.0%
- Eurostat, EU average (2025): EU 19.95%
- Eurostat, Romania (lowest) (2025): Romania 5.2%
Why high confidence: One official, harmonized survey of about 157,000 firms, run the same way in every country. Two independent creators with different methods confirm the country ranking. Part of the 2024 to 2025 rise comes from a new technology added to the list.
Studies without a figure on this scale are listed in the table only.
Sources
| Study | Creator | Year | Sample | Method | Figure | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial intelligence by size class of enterprise (dataset isoc_eb_ai) | Eurostat | 2025 | About 157,000 EU enterprises with 10 or more employees, early 2025 | Official harmonized survey; use of any of eight listed AI technologies during the year. Excludes agriculture, mining and finance. | Denmark 42.0%, Finland 37.8%, Sweden 35.0%, Netherlands 33.2%, Norway 28.9%, Germany 26.0%, Spain 20.3%, France 18.2%, Italy 16.4%, Portugal 11.5%, Poland 8.4%, Romania 5.2%; EU 19.95% (8.06% in 2023) “Enterprises using AI technologies generating written or spoken language or programming codes” | ec.europa.eu ↗ |
| Artificial intelligence by size class of enterprise (dataset isoc_eb_ai) | Eurostat | 2025 | German enterprises with 10 or more employees in the same survey | Same survey and definition | Germany 25.97% (11.55% in 2023); AI that generates text, speech or code 9.0% | ec.europa.eu ↗ |
| Use of artificial intelligence in enterprises (Statistics Explained) | Eurostat | 2025 | 157,000 enterprises surveyed in 2025 | Eurostat's commentary on the same survey | EU average 19.95%, up 6.47 points from 2024; country range 5.21% to 42.03% “the share of enterprises using AI ranged between 5.21% and 42.03%” | ec.europa.eu ↗ |
| Artificial intelligence by size class of enterprise (dataset isoc_eb_ai) | Eurostat | 2025 | Romanian enterprises with 10 or more employees in the same survey | Same survey and definition | Romania 5.21% (1.51% in 2023) | ec.europa.eu ↗ |
| Mind the Gap: AI Adoption in Europe and the US (St. Louis Fed Working Paper 2026-003) | Alexander Bick, Adam Blandin, David J. Deming, Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln and Jonas Jessen | 2026 | Eurostat enterprise survey 2021 to 2025, 32 European countries | Analysis of the official data at country and industry level | Early leaders kept their lead and grew faster; the spread between countries doubled from 2021 to 2025 “with early adoption leaders tending to pull further ahead of early laggards” | doi.org ↗ |
How fast is AI use growing among European companies?
About 2.5 times since 2023: from 8.1% of EU firms in 2023 to 13.5% in 2024 and 20.0% in 2025. The leaders pulled ahead: the gap between the top and bottom country widened from 14 to 37 points. Denmark (+14.5 points) and Finland (+13.5) grew most from 2024 to 2025.
How many European companies use generative AI?
8.8% of EU firms used AI that generates text, speech or code in 2025, from 3.1% in Romania to 30.8% in Denmark (Germany 9.0%, Spain 8.9%, France 7.8%, Portugal 5.3%, Netherlands 16.3%, Finland 20.1%, Sweden 19.7%). A further 9.6% generated pictures, video or audio.
Numbers you may have seen
These figures circulate widely. Here is what the original source says.
- The EU wants 75% of companies using AI by 2030. The Digital Decade target is that three in four companies use cloud computing, big data or AI, any of the three.
- 57% of German companies use AI (Bitkom, 2026). Bitkom surveyed 603 firms with 20 or more employees with one broad question. The official figure for German firms with 10 or more employees is 26% (2025).
- More than 70% of euro area firms use AI (ECB). That counts any use, including occasional. Only 7% use AI intensively, and the official enterprise survey puts the EU at 20%.
- 37% of EU firms use generative AI (EIB). The EIB weights firms by value added, so big firms dominate. Counted by number of firms, 8.8% of EU enterprises generate text, speech or code with AI.
- Only 8% (or 13.5%) of EU companies use AI. Those are the 2023 and 2024 figures. In 2025 it was 19.95%.
More from Europe
- F-359–37%What share of workers in each EU country use generative AI for work?
- F-367–17 ptsHow does AI use at work in Europe compare with the US?
- F-3748–86%How do European workers feel about AI at work?
- F-3828%How ready are European companies for the EU AI Act?
- F-3953–66%How much do European firms care where their AI processes data?
- F-4012–14×How does AI investment in Europe compare with the US?
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