Social Economy Across Europe: Insights from the European Commission’s Recent Report

The European Commission, through its Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EISMEA), has published a comprehensive report in collaboration with Euricse and CIRIEC, highlighting the pivotal role of the social economy in Europe. This publication explores the opportunities and challenges facing social economy entities across the EU.
4.3 million enterprises and organisations, 11.5 million paid employees, from which 3.3 million are employed in the health and social sectors, and more than 912 billion euros in turnover are the main figures of the social economy in the European Union, according to the report "Benchmarking the socio-economic performance of the EU social economy". The report underscores the critical role of social economy enterprises, including cooperatives, mutuals, associations, and social enterprises, in addressing pressing needs such as unemployment and social exclusion.
The report highlights that the social economy is active in all EU Member States. However, the recognition of social economy entities varies widely. In some countries, these organisations are well understood and integrated into policy frameworks, while in others, their roles are less visible or underestimated. Factors explaining the limited visibility and underestimation of the contribution of the social economy include an insufficient understanding of the roles and functions these entities perform, as well as a lack of comparable, high-quality statistical data and analysis.
A standout finding in the report concerns the strong presence of women in the social economy workforce. Many social economy organisations operate in sectors such as healthcare, social care, which traditionally employ a high proportion of women. Associations and foundations have a particularly high representation of women, while cooperatives show variation across countries. This underscores the sector’s contribution to gender equality.
For more information, access the full report here: Benchmarking the socio-economic performance of the EU social economy - Publications Office of the EU