Resource overview and provenance
This resource is the report Benchmarking the socio-economic performance of the EU social economy (2024). It is published on the European Commission’s publications portal and relates to the Commission’s 2021 Social Economy Action Plan. The study work is attributed to EURICSE, CIRIEC, and Spatial Foresight, while the Authors field is not specified in the database entry and is therefore treated as not named.
What the study measures
The report benchmarks the scale and socio-economic footprint of the “social economy” across EU Member States, covering organisational forms such as cooperatives, mutual societies, associations, foundations, and social enterprises. It compiles comparable indicators on the number of entities, employment, and economic turnover, and it highlights where national statistics remain incomplete or not harmonised across countries.
Scale of the EU social economy (key figures)
According to the report’s headline findings, the EU has more than 4.3 million social economy entities employing at least 11.5 million people. This corresponds to roughly 6.3% of total employment across the EU. The same entities generate turnover of more than €912 billion, illustrating that the sector is substantial both as an employer and as an economic actor across Europe.
Composition by organisational type
The report describes a heterogeneous ecosystem. Associations are the largest group by count (around 3.8 million entities), followed by cooperatives (about 240,000). For social enterprises, the report estimates roughly 246,000 entities in total, split between approximately 43,000 that are legally recognised and about 203,000 that operate as de facto social enterprises under broader legal forms.
Employment patterns and sectors
Employment is concentrated in associations (around 6.2 million jobs) and cooperatives (about 3.3 million jobs). The report also breaks down jobs by activity areas, noting at least 3.3 million people employed in health and social care, around 702,000 in education, and roughly 622,000 in arts, culture, and entertainment. These figures indicate a strong presence in services linked to wellbeing and community infrastructure, alongside more traditional cooperative activity in the economy.
Relevance for sustainable and affordable housing audiences
For a pan-European audience focused on sustainable housing, the report’s benchmarking provides context on the wider social-economy landscape in which housing cooperatives, community-led housing initiatives, and other mission-driven housing providers can sit. By quantifying the scale of cooperatives and other social-economy actors, the findings help position collective and purpose-driven approaches as a significant part of Europe’s socio-economic fabric, particularly in sectors connected to social inclusion and wellbeing.
Data gaps and comparability challenges
A central conclusion is that data availability and comparability remain uneven across Member States. Only a limited number of countries maintain comprehensive national statistics on the social economy, which constrains cross-country benchmarking and trend analysis. The report highlights that recognition and understanding of the social economy concept varies considerably across the EU, with stronger traditions in parts of Western Europe than in other regions.
Intended next steps
The study is framed as part of a longer-term effort to improve data collection and representation of the social economy at national and EU levels, including collaboration with researchers across all 27 Member States. Strengthening statistical visibility is presented as a prerequisite for better-informed policy design and for tracking how social-economy entities contribute to employment, turnover, and public-interest services across Europe.