SMEs represent 99% of European enterprises and millions of jobs.

Omissions

• The exact Eurostat figure is 99.8% of EU enterprises, not 99%; '99%' is a rounded-down approximation.
• The 99% share refers to the non-financial business economy; the ratio varies slightly depending on the scope (business economy vs. all enterprises).
• No more recent (2025 or 2026) EU-wide Structural Business Statistics release that would supersede the existing ~99% share was retrievable before the 2026-09-16 session; the underlying reference data is from the most recent SBS vintage (2023), which remains the latest available official figure.
• The claim adds that SMEs provide 'millions of jobs' — accurate in direction (SMEs employ roughly 100 million people, about two-thirds of EU employment), but the exact employment figure is not stated.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat — Statistics on small and medium-sized enterprises (Structural Business Statistics)SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) represent 99.8% of all enterprises in the EU's non-financial business economy (approximately 33.1 million enterprises in 2023), and account for about two-thirds of total EU employment.