The European Union institutions employed over 79211 staff in 2024.
This information is based on the most recent annual reports from each of the 76 European Union institutions and bodies. Find out more below.
Discussion
Google is not always right. When you type into Google “How many people work for the eu institutions?”, you are likely to be directed to this EU website that states that the EU institutions employ over 60,000 people.
While this number appears to be sufficiently large and larger than the official number of people working for the European Commission – 32169 in 2022 – I always had the nagging feeling that there’s something off about it.
First of all, it’s suspiciously round.
Secondly, there are at least 76 EU institutions and bodies, and a new one is created at least every few years; this figure, however, the 60000 staff figure didn’t really change from year to year.
Thirdly, it seems that most media just regurgitate it without questioning it and doing the calculations.
By the way, there are some clearly wrong figures floating on the internet and being ranked high in Google search results, including in seemingly respectable sources like this one – The Conversation UK. Even by the most conservative estimates the relatively low number cited in this source – 46,356 – is nowhere near reality and even lower than the figure prepared by the European Commission.
This is why I embarked on a quest.
Over the summer and autumn 2023 I spent no less than 36 hours of combing through the annual reports of each EU institution, in order to do as thorough a calculation as possible.
It was not an easy job, and I understand why no media editor did assign an intern to do the same. As you will see from the methodological notes below, to arrive at the number of 79211, there is quite some digging and thinking to be done.
I hope that you find this information informative and useful!
If you have a question, or even better, a methodological suggestion, please drop a comment below.
If you are from one of the EU institutions that do not publicly list a precise staff figure, please drop me a note on how to obtain this info. I’m talking about you, dear European Parliament, EIB, ECB, EISMEA, EDPS, EDCTP3, and ECDC.
Here’s the same data in a different layout.
Methodology
Sources
This article uses the most recently available Consolidated Annual Activity Report (CAAR) for each institution. At the time of publishing this article on October 2023, CAARs for 2022 should be available for all institutions, but this is not always the case (as an example, CJEU report is available only for 2021; some institutions’ reports with precise staff figures are not publicly available). In cases where the CAAR is not available or does not contain a precise staff figure, other official sources such as the EU institutions’ websites are used. You will find the source or each figure used in this overview in the table below.
Notes
- Using the ‘establishment plans’ as included in the EU’s annual budget might seem like the easiest approach to get the total EU institutions staff figures from one single document. However, this does not work. The establishment plans for EU institutions only list statutory staff categories such as AD Administrators, AST Assistants, and AST/SC Secretaries and Clerks positions, but completely omit CA Contract Agents and Seconded National Experts.
- Most EU institutions listed two staff figures in their annual reports: available and actually filled positions. We used the higher figure of available staff positions in the summary above, as any seemingly “vacant” positions are most often actually filled by the so-called ‘interims’ – temporary staff on short-term contracts.
- For some institutions (Europol, CJEU, EBA) we used the figures of ‘staff actually employed, if these were higher than the establishment plan figure to provide a truer picture of actually employed staff in EU institutions.
- Precise staff figure is not publicly available for these EU institutions: European Parliament, European Investment Bank, European Central Bank, European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Executive Agency, European Data Protection Supervisor, Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking, European Centre for Disease Control. However, all these institutions provide an approximate figure in their reports or websites; this figure is used in the above calculation.
- Any trainees recruited by the EU institutions are not included in the figures of this article, although the largest EU institutions can have many tenths or even hundreds of trainees at any given moment, and trainees receive a stipend of around 1200 EUR per month.
Raw data and source by each EU institution
| EU institution | Abbreviation | Staff number |
|---|---|---|
| European Commission | EC | 32262 |
| European Parliament | EP | 8132 |
| European External Action Service | EEAS | 5188 |
| European Investment Bank | EIB | 4000 |
| European Central Bank | ECB | 3500 |
| European Council and Council of the European Union (General Secretariat) | Council | 3108 |
| European Border and Coast Guard Agency | Frontex | 2503 |
| Court of Justice of the European Union | CJEU | 2247 |
| European Union Intellectual Property Office | EUIPO | 1293 |
| Europol | Europol | 1140 |
| European Court of Auditors | ECA | 997 |
| European Medicines Agency | EMA | 936 |
| European Research Executive Agency | REA | 868 |
| European Economic and Social Committee | EESC | 700 |
| European Union Aviation Safety Agency | EASA | 680 |
| The European Securities and Markets Authority | ESMA | 620 |
| European Committee of the Regions | CoR | 609 |
| European Food Safety Authority | EFSA | 587 |
| European Chemicals Agency | ECHA | 578 |
| European Education and Culture Executive Agency | EACEA | 522 |
| European Union Agency for Asylum | EUAA | 519 |
| European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency | CINEA | 516 |
| European Research Council Executive Agency | ERCEA | 516 |
| Single Resolution Board | SRB | 515 |
| Fusion for Energy | F4E | 457 |
| European Health and Digital Executive Agency | HADEA | 437 |
| European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice | eu-LISA | 393 |
| European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Executive Agency | EISMEA | 370 |
| European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control | ECDC | 300 |
| European Union Agency for the Space Programme | EUSPA | 295 |
| Eurojust | Eurojust | 263 |
| European Maritime Safety Agency | EMSA | 260 |
| European Environment Agency | EEA | 256 |
| European Banking Authority | EBA | 222 |
| European Public Prosecutor’s Office | EPPO | 221 |
| European Union Agency for Railways | ERA | 201 |
| European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority | EIOPA | 200 |
| Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking | ERJU | 194 |
| Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union | CdT | 193 |
| European Defence Agency | EDA | 171 |
| Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators | ACER | 163 |
| European Union Satellite Centre | SatCen | 160 |
| European Labour Authority | ELA | 132 |
| European Training Foundation | ETF | 131 |
| European Union Institute for Security Studies | EUISS | 130 |
| European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training | Cedefop | 106 |
| European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction | EMCDDA | 101 |
| European Data Protection Supervisor | EDPS | 100 |
| European Fisheries Control Agency | EFCA | 100 |
| European Union Agency for Cybersecurity | ENISA | 100 |
| European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training | CEPOL | 98 |
| Eurofound | Eurofound | 91 |
| European Ombudsman | European Ombudsman | 79 |
| European Institute of Innovation and Technology | EIT | 72 |
| European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights | FRA | 72 |
| SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking | SESAR | 71 |
| Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking | IHI JU | 55 |
| European Institute for Gender Equality | EIGE | 53 |
| Community Plant Variety Office | CPVO | 52 |
| European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking | EuroHPC JU | 47 |
| Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking | CA JU | 44 |
| Agency for Support for BEREC | BEREC | 43 |
| Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking | CBEJU | 41 |
| European Agency for Safety and Health at Work | EU-OSHA | 40 |
| Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking | CH JU | 31 |
| Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking | KDT JU | 31 |
| The European Data Protection Board | EDPB | 30 |
| Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking | EDCTP3 | 27 |
| Euratom Supply Agency | ESA | 17 |
| Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking | 6GSNS | 17 |
| Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations | APPF | 8 |
| European Personnel Selection Office | EPSO | n/a |
| Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU institutions, bodies and agencies | CERT-EU | n/a |
| European School of Administration | EuSA | n/a |
| Publications Office of the European Union | OP | n/a |
| 79211 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people work for the European Commission?
EC employed 32262 staff.
Source/Comments: Website “Key figures on European Commission staff”, https://commission.europa.eu/about-european-commission/organisational-structure/commission-staff_en#key-figures-on-european-commission-staff
How many people work for the European Parliament?
The total number of personnel working for the Parliament is 8132.
This encompassed officials, temporary staff, and contract staff, including those working for political groups. Of these, 5253 were based in Brussels, 300 in Strasbourg, 2291 in Luxembourg, and 288 in other locations.
Important – assistants to MEPs were not included in this count, hence, the actual figure of people employed by the European Parliament is higher than 8132.
Women represented a majority of the Parliament’s workforce, making up 55% of the staff. Additionally, 13% of the Parliament’s staff, equating to 1,093 posts, were dedicated to serving the political groups.
Source/Comments: European Parliament webpage: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/faq/21/how-many-people-work-in-the-parliament
How many people work for the European External Action Service?
EEAS employed 5188 staff.
Source/Comments: EEAS 2022 Annual report, page 32, https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/annual-reports_en#10818
How many people work for the European Investment Bank?
EIB employed 4000 staff.
Source/Comments: The EIB does not disclose a precise staff number. EIB webiste mentions that the institution has more than 4000 staff members. Source: https://www.eib.org/en/about/at-a-glance/easy-to-read.htm
How many people work for the European Central Bank?
ECB employed 3500 staff.
Source/Comments: ECB 2022 report no available. Approximate figure from https://www.ecb.europa.eu/careers/working-at-the-ecb/html/index.en.html
How many people work for the European Council and Council of the European Union (General Secretariat)?
Council employed 3108 staff.
The General Secretariat does not produce a CAAR report similar to most other EU institutions that lists a precise staff figure. However, general figure of 3108 staff (which include officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts) is listed on its website. Gender breakdown is also provided:
- 1783 women and 1325 men
- senior management: 18 women and 33 men
- middle management: 37 women and 46 men
- administrators (AD): 814 women and 648 men
- assistant (AST) and secretary (SC): 882 women and 529 men
The data is for 1 January 2023. Source
Source/Comments: General Secretariat of the European Council and Council of the European Union Webpage, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/general-secretariat/staff-budget/ A CAAR report with a precise staff figure is not available.
How many people work for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency?
Frontex employed 2503 staff.
In 2021, Frontex became the largest EU Agency in terms of the number of staff (source: Frontex 2022 CAAR report, page 128).
Source/Comments: Frontex 2022 CAAR report, page 120-121, https://prd.frontex.europa.eu/document/consolidated-annual-activity-report-2022/ In the 2022 CAAR report the agency employed 2063 staff with an 82.42% occupancy rate. The agency mentions that it filled 102 positions with interims in 2022 (page 118).
How many people work for the Court of Justice of the European Union?
CJEU employed 2247 staff.
Source/Comments: CJEU 2021 CAAR report (2022 report no available in 09/2023), 54, https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7015/en/
Important: page 45 in the report references the establishment plan and 2097 positions. 2247 staff members are reported as actually employed by the CJEU.
How many people work for the European Union Intellectual Property Office?
EUIPO employed 1293 staff.
Source/Comments: EUIPO 2021 CAAR report APPENDIX 4 – Annual staff policy plan (2022 report not available), page 4, https://euipo.europa.eu/tunnel-web/secure/webdav/guest/document_library/contentPdfs/about_euipo/transparency_portal/Annual_staff_policy_plan_en.pdf
How many people work for the Europol?
Europol employed 1140 staff.
Source/Comments: Europol 2022 CAAR report, page 76-77, https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-events/publications/consolidated-annual-activity-report-caar-2022#downloads
How many people work for the European Court of Auditors?
ECA employed 997 staff.
Source: CoA 2022 CAAR report, page 52
How many people work for the European Medicines Agency?
EMA employed 936 staff.
Source/Comments: EMA 2022 Annual report, page 114, https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/about-us/annual-reports-work-programmes
How many people work for the European Research Executive Agency?
REA employed 868 staff.
Source/Comments: REA 2022 CAAR report, page 109-110, https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-06/REA_AAR_2022_annexes_final_en.pdf
How many people work for the European Economic and Social Committee?
EESC employed 700 staff.
The EESC staff numbers are not to be confused with those of the ‘political assembly’ composed of 329 permanent and 329 alternate members from all EU Member States. The permanent and alternate EESC members do not receive regular salaries for their work, but are instead only paid expenses associated with their attendance at the Committee’s meetings. The setup of the EESC is identical to that of the CoR.
In 2022 the EESC has 700 staff members. These are further divided in 336 Administrators, 290 Assistants, and 42 Secretaries and Clerks.
Source: EESC Annual Report 2022, page 168.
How many people work for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency?
EASA employed 680 staff.
Source/Comments: EASA 2022 CAAR report, page 129, https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/the-agency/management-board/decisions/easa-mb-decision-04-2023-consolidated-annual-activity-report
How many people work for the The European Securities and Markets Authority?
ESMA employed 620 staff.
Source/Comments: ESMA 2022 CAAR report, page 66, https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2023-06/ESMA_annual_report_2022.pdf
How many people work for the European Committee of the Regions?
CoR employed 609 staff.
The CoR staff numbers are not to be confused with those of the ‘political assembly’ composed of 329 permanent and 329 alternate members from all EU Member States. The permanent and alternate CoR members do not receive regular salaries for their work, but are instead only paid expenses associated with their attendance at the Committee’s meetings. The setup of the CoR is identical to that of the EESC.
In 2022 the European Committee of the Regions had at least 609 staff members. These are further divided in 306 Administrators, 210 Assistants, and 12 Secretaries and Clerks. The 2022 Annual Report does not list any Contract Agent or SNE positions, however, it’s unlikely CoR does not employ staff in these positions, hence, likely to actual staff figure is higher.
Source/Comments: CoR 2022 CAAR report, page 64, https://cor.europa.eu/en/about/secretary-general/Documents/Annual%20activity%20report%202022.pdf
How many people work for the European Food Safety Authority?
EFSA employed 587 staff.
Source/Comments: EFSA 2022 CAAR report, page 62, https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/corporate-pubs/annual-reports
How many people work for the European Chemicals Agency?
ECHA employed 578 staff.
Source/Comments: ECHA 2022 CAAR report, page 80, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/269563/ECHA_Annual%20Activity%20Report%202022.pdf
How many people work for the European Education and Culture Executive Agency?
EACEA employed 522 staff.
Source/Comments: EACEA 2022 Report on budgetary and financial management, page 15, https://www.eacea.ec.europa.eu/annual-accounts-2022_en
How many people work for the European Union Agency for Asylum?
EUAA employed 519 staff.
Source/Comments: EUAA 2022 CAAR report, page 135, https://euaa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/2023-06/CAAR_2022_adopted_by_MB_20230627.pdf
How many people work for the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency?
CINEA employed 516 staff.
Source/Comments: CINEA 2022 CAAR report, page 47, https://commission.europa.eu/publications/annual-activity-report-2022-european-climate-infrastructure-and-environment-executive-agency_en
How many people work for the European Research Council Executive Agency?
ERCEA employed 516 staff.
Source/Comments: ERCEA 2022 CAAR report, page, https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-06/ERCEA_AAR_2022_annexes_en.pdf
How many people work for the Single Resolution Board?
SRB employed 515 staff.
Source/Comments: SRB 2022 CAAR report, page 61, https://www.srb.europa.eu/system/files/media/document/2023-07-20_SRB-Annual-Report_2022.pdf
How many people work for the Fusion for Energy agency?
F4E employed 457 staff.
Source/Comments: F4E 2022 CAAR report, page 170, https://fusionforenergy.europa.eu/key-reference-documents/
How many people work for the European Health and Digital Executive Agency?
HADEA employed 437 staff.
Source/Comments: HADEA 2022 CAAR report, page 42, https://commission.europa.eu/publications/annual-activity-report-2022-health-and-digital-executive-agency_en
How many people work for the European Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice?
eu-LISA employed 393 staff.
Source/Comments: eu-LISA 2022 CAAR report, page 125, https://www.eulisa.europa.eu/Publications/Corporate/Consolidated%20Annual%20Activity%20Report%202022.pdf eu-LISA informs that only 324 staff members were actually employed as of 31 December 2022, however, no information is given on employment of interims.
How many people work for the European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Executive Agency?
EISMEA employed 370 staff.
Source/Comments: EISMEA does not publicly list the total staff number. The 2022 annual repor makes a reference to a staff gathering that was attended by 370 staff members on page 50. Source: https://eismea.ec.europa.eu/about-eismea_en
How many people work for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control?
ECDC employed 300 staff.
Source/Comments: The ECDC 2022 CAAR report (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/273030/ECDC%20CAAR%202022.pdf) does not list a precise figure, only the AD, AST and AST/SC positions. Approximate staff figure attained from the ECDC website: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-ecdc
How many people work for the European Union Agency for the Space Programme?
EUSPA employed 295 staff.
Source/Comments: EUSPA 2022 CAAR report, page 191, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/272567/EUSPA%20CAAR%202022.pdf
How many people work for the Eurojust?
Eurojust employed 263 staff.
Source/Comments: Eurojust 2022 CAAR report, page 52 & 76, https://www.eurojust.europa.eu/about-us/planning-and-reporting/consolidated-annual-activity-report
How many people work for the European Maritime Safety Agency?
EMSA employed 260 staff.
Source/Comments: EMSA 2022 CAAR report, page 120, https://www.emsa.europa.eu/publications/item/4980-emsa-consolidated-annual-activity-report-2022.html
How many people work for the European Environment Agency?
EEA employed 256 staff.
Source/Comments: EEA 2022 CAAR report, page 52,
ttps://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/consolidated-annual-activity-report-2022
How many people work for the European Banking Authority?
EBA employed 222 staff.
Source/Comments: EBA 2022 CAAR report, pages 14, https://www.eba.europa.eu/about-us/annual-reports. Page 109 does not list all staff categories, but only AD and AST positions.
How many people work for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office?
EPPO employed 221 staff.
Source/Comments: EPPO 2022 CAAR report, page 27, https://www.eppo.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2023-06/EPPO_Consolidated_Annual_Activity_Report_2022.pdf
How many people work for the European Union Agency for Railways?
ERA employed 201 staff.
Source/Comments: ERA 2022 CAAR report, page 108,
How many people work for the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority?
EIOPA employed 200 staff.
Source/Comments: EIOPA 2022 CAAR report, page 55-56,
https://www.eiopa.europa.eu/system/files/2023-06/eiopa-annual-report-2022.pdf
How many people work for the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking?
ERJU employed 194 staff.
Source/Comments: ERJU 2022 CAAR report, page 109, https://www.era.europa.eu/system/files/2023-06/CAAR%202022%20-%20European%20Union%20Agency%20for%20Railways.pdf
How many people work for the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union?
CdT employed 193 staff.
Source/Comments: CdT 2022 CAAR report, pages 36 and 76, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/273049/CDT%20CAAR%202022.pdf
How many people work for the European Defence Agency?
EDA employed 171 staff.
Source/Comments: EDA 2022 CAAR report, page 28, https://eda.europa.eu/publications-and-data/all-publications
How many people work for the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators?
ACER employed 163 staff.
Source/Comments: ACER 2022 CAAR report, page 87, https://www.acer.europa.eu/Publications/ACER_Consolidated_Annual_Activity_Report_2022.pdf
How many people work for the European Union Satellite Centre?
SatCen employed 160 staff.
Source/Comments: SatCen 2022 CAAR report, page 65-66, https://www.satcen.europa.eu/keydocuments/AnnualReport_2022_web64637614d2043e0001217f1b.pdf
How many people work for the European Labour Authority?
ELA employed 132 staff.
Source/Comments: ELA 2022 CAAR report, page 62, https://www.ela.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2023-07/ela-consolidated-annual-activity-report-2022.pdf
How many people work for the European Training Foundation?
ETF employed 131 staff.
Source/Comments: ETF 2022 CAAR report, page 80, https://www.etf.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/GB22DEC010%20SPD%202023-2025%20AWP%202023.pdf
How many people work for the European Union Institute for Security Studies?
EUISS employed 130 staff.
Source/Comments: EUISS 2022 CAAR report, page 116, https://issuu.com/vubrussel/docs/ies_annual_report_2022
How many people work for the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training?
Cedefop employed 106 staff.
Source/Comments: Cedefop 2022 CAAR report, page 65, https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/about-cedefop/what-we-do/annual-reports
How many people work for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction?
EMCDDA employed 101 staff.
EMCDDA does not give a precise staff figure in its 2022 Annual Report, however, lists an FTE equivalent of 101.
Source/Comments: EMCDDA 2022 Annual Report, page 83, https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/gra/2022_en
How many people work for the European Data Protection Supervisor?
EDPS employed 100 staff.
Source/Comments: EDPS does not publish precise staff figures. EDPS website mentions that there are around 100 staff members, however, it is not clear if this includes contract agents, or only staff in the AD and AST grades. Source: https://edps.europa.eu/careers_en
How many people work for the European Fisheries Control Agency?
EFCA employed 100 staff.
Source/Comments: EFCA 2022 CAAR report, page 109, https://www.efca.europa.eu/en/content/annual-report-2022
How many people work for the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity?
ENISA employed 100 staff.
Source/Comments: ENISA 2022 CAAR report, page 162, https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/corporate-documents/enisa-annual-activity-report-2022.pdf
How many people work for the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training?
CEPOL employed 98 staff.
Source/Comments: CEPOL 2022 CAAR report, page 91-93, https://www.cepol.europa.eu/publications/consolidated-annual-activity-report
How many people work for the Eurofound?
Eurofound employed 91 staff.
Source/Comments: Eurofound 2022 CAAR report, page 36, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/273018/EUROFOUND_CAAR%202022.pdf
How many people work for the European Ombudsman?
European Ombudsman employed 79 staff.
Source/Comments: European Ombudsman 2022 Annual report, page 36, https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/doc/annual-report/en/167855
How many people work for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology?
EIT employed 72 staff.
Source/Comments: EIT 2022 CAAR report, page 96-97, https://eit.europa.eu/library/gb-decision-192023-assessment-and-adoption-2022-annual-activity-report-authorising-officer
How many people work for the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights?
FRA employed 72 staff.
Source/Comments: FRA 2022 CAAR report, page 97, https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2023/consolidated-annual-activity-report-european-union-agency-fundamental-rights-2022
How many people work for the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking?
SESAR employed 71 staff.
Source/Comments: SESAR 3 JU 2022 CAAR report, page 94-95, https://www.sesarju.eu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/SESAR%203%20JU%20CAAR%202022.pdf
How many people work for the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking?
IHI JU employed 55 staff.
Source/Comments: IHI JU 2022 CAAR report, page 105, https://www.ihi.europa.eu/about-ihi/plans-reports-and-finances
How many people work for the European Institute for Gender Equality?
EIGE employed 53 staff.
Source/Comments: EIGE 2022 CAAR report, page 130, https://eige.europa.eu/about/documents-registry/consolidated-annual-activity-report-eige-2022
How many people work for the Community Plant Variety Office?
CPVO employed 52 staff.
Source/Comments: CPVO 2022 CAAR report, page 16, https://cpvo.europa.eu/en/about-us/what-we-do/reports
How many people work for the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking?
EuroHPC JU employed 47 staff.
Source/Comments: EuroHPC JU 2022 CAAR report, page 100-101, https://eurohpc-ju.europa.eu/about/key-documents_en
How many people work for the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking?
CA JU employed 44 staff.
Source/Comments: CAJU 2022 CAAR report, page 77, https://www.clean-aviation.eu/about-us/key-documents
How many people work for the Agency for Support for BEREC?
BEREC employed 43 staff.
Source/Comments: BEREC 2022 CAAR report, page 135, https://www.berec.europa.eu/en/document-categories/berec-office/berec-office-activity-reports
How many people work for the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking?
CBEJU employed 41 staff.
Source/Comments: CBEJU 2022 CAAR report, page 127-128, https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents
How many people work for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work?
EU-OSHA employed 40 staff.
Source/Comments: EU-OSHA 2022 CAAR report, page 106, https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Consolidated%20Annual%20Activity%20Report%202022.pdf
How many people work for the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking?
CH JU employed 31 staff.
Source/Comments: CHJU 2022 CAAR report, page 133, https://www.clean-hydrogen.europa.eu/about-us/key-documents/annual-activity-reports_en
How many people work for the Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking?
KDT JU employed 31 staff.
Source/Comments: KDT JU 2021 CAAR report, page 70, https://www.kdt-ju.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2022-06/ECSEL%20Annual%20Report%202021%20final.pdf. CAAR 2022 is not availabe in October 2023
How many people work for the the European Data Protection Board?
EDPB employed 30 staff.
Source/Comments: EDPB 2022 CAAR report, page 16, https://edpb.europa.eu/our-work-tools/our-documents/annual-report/edpb-annual-report-2022_en
How many people work for the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking?
EDCTP3 employed 27 staff.
Source/Comments: EDCTP3 JU Secretariat page. Staff figure not available in the 2022 Annual Report.
How many people work for the Euratom Supply Agency?
ESA employed 17 staff.
Source/Comments: Euratom Supply Agency 2021 CAAR report, page 73, https://euratom-supply.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-12/Euratom%20Supply%20Agency%20-%20Annual%20report%202021%20-%20Corrected%20edition.pdf. 2022 CAAR report is not available by 09/2023
How many people work for the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking?
6GSNS employed 17 staff.
Source/Comments: 6G SNS 2023 Work Programme, page 29, https://smart-networks.europa.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/sns-work-programme-2023.pd
How many people work for the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations?
APPF employed 8 staff.
Source/Comments: APPF 2022 CAAR report, page 23, https://www.appf.europa.eu/appf/en/other-information/annual-activity-reports
How many people work for the European Personnel Selection Office?
EPSO had 123 staff members on 1 January 2023, but these are counted as European Commission staff.
How many people work for the European School of Administration?
EuSA staff are part of EPSO. See EPSO Annual Activity report.
How many people work for the Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU institutions, bodies and agencies?
CERT-EU is part of DG DIGIT at the European Commission. Staff number not known.
How many people work for the Publications Office of the European Union?
OP staff are part of the European Commission and included in staff number for this institution. 584 staff members worked for the EC Publication Office in 2023. https://euemployment.eu/european-commission-employee-number
6 responses to “How many people work for the EU institutions in 2024?”
Great overview, thanks!
You can find the staff figures of the EIB and ECB in their annual reports.
EIB: “The number of persons employed by the Bank was 4,273 at 31 December 2023 (4,020 at 31 December 2022).”
https://www.eib.org/attachments/lucalli/20230354_eib_financial_report_2023_en.pdf
ECB: “The average number of employees, expressed in full-time equivalents (FTEs)[57], amounted to 4,222 (2022: 4,136), of which 380 were managerial staff (2022: 373).”
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/annual-reports-financial-statements/annual/annual-accounts/html/ecb.annualaccounts2023~f5a98cb02b.en.html
Dear Jan, grand compliments on your web search chops. I thought I’m a sophisticated Google Search user, but I couldn’t find these.
So happy to be able to update the article and know where to look in future.
Ben, this is excellent work. I’ve had the same questions for years now and I couldn’t find the answer anywhere. Just like you said, the EC doesn’t provide this number – only for its staff. And I find it strange that they don’t have this key number readily available.
Now, naturally, my next question is, if you have a break-down of staff categories in aggregate. Out of this 80K how many are ADs, TAs, CAs etc. Then it would be interesting to also look at nationality and other metrics.
This is great work.
I only want to add that the ECA report provides the numbers for most EU agencies in its annual report. The latest must be from 2022 so not entirely up to date. But again this doesn’t include an aggregate figure including the EP, EC, ECB , EIB etc.
Harry, thanks for the words of appreciation!
I believe the EC has the number available, just they don’t want to advertise as it’s convenient to use the 32k or 60k numbers as these are smaller.
To prepare this article took many man-days over many months. I also would love a further breakdown, but I guess it would be more efficient to file a freedom of information request.
Regarding the EU agencies, indeed, the last report is for 2022. The 2023 report should be available in October 2024.
I wonder how to get exact figures about the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank which provide only rounded figures. I guess another FOIA request would be required.
I wish this work would be done by the media. At the moment they just take the published numbers at face value.
Hello,
Is there a section for EEAS salaries and specific allowances (ex. accomodation in a third country, LCA etc.)?
Thanks!
Jack, sorry, no, not at the moment. I hope you have an acquaintance who’s working for the EEAS outside Brussels and can fill you in.