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In 2023, there were 362,400 professional firefighters in the EU, representing 0.18% of total EU employment. Compared with 2022, the number of firefighters increased by 3,200.
Among the 21 EU countries with available data, the highest shares of firefighters in total employment were registered in Croatia (0.49%), followed by Estonia and Greece (both 0.39%). The lowest shares were registered in the Netherlands (0.05%), Finland, Slovenia and Sweden (both 0.13%).
At the EU level, firefighters aged 30 to 49 made up 61% of all firefighters. Among them, the largest subgroups were those aged 40 to 44 (65,600 firefighters), followed by those aged 35 to 39 (59,100 firefighters).
EU governments spent €37.8 billion on fire-protection services in 2022
In 2022, general government expenditure on ‘fire-protection services’ in the 27 EU countries amounted to €37.8 billion, reflecting a 7.8% increase from 2021 (€35.1bn).
The share of general government total expenditure in the EU dedicated to fire-protection services was 0.5%. Overall, government expenditure on fire-protection services has remained stable at 0.5% of total expenditure since 2016.
In 2022, Denmark reported the lowest share of expenditure on fire-protection services, at 0.1% of general government total expenditure, followed by Malta, Slovenia, Portugal and Austria with 0.3% each.
In contrast, Romania had the highest share of expenditure on fire-protection services at 0.7% of total expenditure, followed by Greece, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia and Czechia with 0.6% each.
For more information
- Thematic section on employment and unemployment (Labour Force Survey – LFS)
- Database on employment and unemployment (Labour Force Survey – LFS)
- Thematic section on government finance statistics
- Database on government finance statistics
- Interactive infographic on government expenditure by function
- Online publication on general government expenditure by function
Methodological notes
- Firefighters refer to the category ‘5411 Firefighters’, as defined under the International standard classification of occupations (ISCO-08) classification.
- Data on firefighters in 2023 from the EU Labour Force Survey are not shown for Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovakia because of very low reliability.
- Low reliability data of the number of firefighters for Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia.
- According to the methodology of the survey only people working in their main job as firefighters are included; voluntary workers, such as volunteer firefighters, are not included in employment statistics based on this activity.
- General government expenditure for the function ‘fire protection services’ (according to the Classification of the functions of government – COFOG) is based on national accounts/government finance statistics.
- ‘Fire protection services´ is part of the COFOG division ‘public order and safety’. According to the classification, it relates to the “administration of fire prevention and firefighting affairs and services; operation of regular and auxiliary fire brigades and of other fire prevention and firefighting services maintained by public authorities; operation or support of fire prevention and firefighting training programmes. It includes civil protection services such as mountain rescue, beach surveillance, evacuation of flooded areas, etc.”
- Manual on sources and methods for the compilation of COFOG statistics — Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG)
- Metadata file on government expenditure by function
- Data on government expenditure by function for the EU and euro area aggregates (2022), Belgium (2022), Germany (2020-2022), Spain (2022), France (2021-2022) and Portugal (2022) is provisional.
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