Greece has the highest percentage of self-employed, according to data released by Eurostat for 2012.
According to Eurostat, 32 percent of the people who work in Greece are self-employed, compared to 15.1 percent in the Eurozone and 15.2 in the EU, which has in total 32.8 million of self-employed people.
After Greece, Italy with 23.4 percent has the second highest percentage, followed by Portugal with 21 percent and Romania with 20 percent. Estonia (8.3 percent), Luxemburg (8.4 percent) and Denmark (9 percent) have Europe’s lowest percentages in self-employment.
In addition,on a European level, the percentage of free lancers appears higher among older people and men. In Greece, the percentage of self-employed people over 65 years old is 65 percent, while it is 45.2 for people between 50-64 years of age, and 27.4 percent for people between 25 to 49. From the total percentage of self employment in Greece, 37.5 percent refers to men compared to 23.7 percent that refers to women. The correspondent percentages in Europe are 19.3 percent for men and 10.3 percent for women.
According to the same source, 28 percent of the self-employed in the EU dispose employees, compared to 22.4 percent that is the percentage in Greece. Hungary has the highest rate (46.5 percent), followed by Estonia (43.6 percent), Germany (43 percent) and Austria (41.7 percent).
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