The Green, Digital and Competitive SME Index measures how well SMEs of each member state of the European Union perform across these three pillars, measured through nine indicators and 22 sub-indicators.

Digital icon

Digital transition

How quickly are those enterprises embracing modern technology across their organisations?

Green leaf icon

Green transition

How fast are SMEs moving to lower emissions and increase energy efficiency?

Competitive icon

SME competitiveness

How quick are they growing and how well performing outside of home markets?

Sweden is No. 1 again in 2023 with good performance across the three pillars. Denmark overtakes the Netherlands in second place thanks to a great improvement on the green transition. And even mid-range performers like Estonia (No. 9), Lithuania (No. 14) and Romania (No. 27) do well at cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

These are the principle findings of The 2023 Green, Digital and Competitive SME Index, an incisive ranking of national performance for Europe's 23 million small- and medium-sized enterprises.

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Rang Land GDC Index Ranking
Digitaler Wandel
Ranking
Grüner Wandel
Ranking
Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der KMU
1 Schweden
72.04
4 1 4
2 Dänemark
71.85
2 3 3
3 Niederlande
69.36
5 2 2
4 Irland
63.58
3 22 1
5 Finnland
63.19
1 14 8
6 Belgien
61.85
6 6 9
7 Malta
55.42
7 12 13
8 Luxemburg
52.96
20 4 6
9 Estland
52.22
17 10 5
10 Deutschland
51.32
8 9 11
11 Österreich
51.10
9 7 14
12 Slowenien
50.39
14 15 7
EU
47.25
13 Spanien
46.54
15 11 18
14 Litauen
46.49
13 17 12
15 Slowakei
42.54
24 5 22
16 Italien
42.27
21 13 19
17 Ungarn
42.16
19 18 16
18 Portugal
41.96
16 24 17
19 Frankreich
41.48
23 8 24
20 Kroatien
40.92
12 23 23
21 Tschechische Republik
40.90
10 21 25
22 Polen
40.76
18 20 21
23 Griechenland
38.75
25 19 15
24 Lettland
37.96
22 27 10
25 Zypern
35.89
11 25 26
26 Bulgarien
30.26
27 26 20
27 Rumänien
28.19
26 16 27
IN DETAIL: You can see the individual data points in the dashboard below.
GrundpfeilerIndikatorATBEBGCYCZDEDKEEELESFIFRHRHUIEITLTLULVMTNLPLPTROSESISK
Digitaler WandelDigitalisierung der KMU
E-Commerce
Digitale Kompetenzen
Grüner WandelErhaltung natürlicher Ressourcen
Emissionsminderung
Grüner Output
Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der KMUExporte
Produktivität
Wachstum
TIME-SERIES ● PROGRESS STALLED OR REVERSED ● PROGRESS TOO SLOW FOR GOAL ACHIEVEMENT ● PROGRESS ON SCHEDULE FOR GOAL ACHIEVEMENT
Grundpfeiler Indikator Sub-Indicator - Compound Annual Growth
Digitaler Wandel Digitalisierung der KMU
I.1.1
Data Analytics
2016-2020
11.82%
I.1.2
Cloud Computing
2014-2021
12.67%
I.1.3
Social Media
2015-2021
11.86%
I.1.4
High Digital Intensity
2015-2019, 2020-2022
9.8%
I.1.5
ICT Security
2019-2022
-0.22%
E-Commerce
I.2.1
E-commerce Sales
2015-2022
2.8%
I.2.2
E-commerce Turnover
2015-2022
2.36%
Digitale Kompetenzen
I.3.1
ICT Specialists
2015-2022
0.84%
I.3.2
ICT In-house
2015-2018, 2019-2022
0%
I.3.3
Training
2015-2022
1.07%
Grüner Wandel Erhaltung natürlicher Ressourcen
II.1.1
Consumption
2015-2021
0.6%
II.1.2
Recycling
2015-2021
3.34%
II.1.3
Circular Material Use Rate
2015-2021
0.58%
Emissionsminderung
II.2.1
SME Emissions
2016-2021
-1.17%
II.2.2
Overall Change in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
2015-2021
-1.38%
Grüner Output
II.3.1
SME Green Products
2015-2021
3.1%
II.3.2
SME in Green Sectors
2015-2021
-0.97%
Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der KMU Exporte
III.1.1
Exporting SMEs
2015-2020
1.19%
III.1.2
SME International Trade
2015-2020
-0.85%
Produktivität
III.2.1
SME Labour Productivity
2015-2020
0.63%
Wachstum
III.3.1
High-Growth Enterprises
2015-2020
-0.56%
III.3.2
High-Growth Employment
2015-2020
-0.77%