According to data published on 16 July for the Olympic and Paralympic Games by the European Commission’s statistical office, Eurostat, in 2023 the sport sector in Europe employed 1.55 million people, or 0.76% of total employment in the EU.
These figures represent an increase of 2.2% on the previous year. Sweden, Denmark and Spain have the highest shares of sports employment, at 1.33%, 1.25% and 1.16% respectively. Conversely, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have the lowest rates, at 0.28%, 0.37% and 0.40% respectively.
Young people dominate this sector: 37.4% of employees are aged between 15 and 29, compared with 17.4% in total employment.
The level of education of sports workers is similar to that of employees as a whole: 45.9% have a medium level of education (ISCED 3-4), 39.6% a higher level (ISCED 5-8) and 14.4% a lower level (ISCED 0-2).
In terms of gender, men are slightly more represented, making up 55.2% of employees in the sector compared with 44.8% for women. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)