Malta has the highest share of high-growth enterprises from across the EU in 2014, according to Eurostat figures released today.

The figures show that 13.7 per cent of enterprises in Malta were high-growth. Eurostat defines a high-growth enterprise as one which increases its number of employees by more than 10

Eurostat defines a high-growth enterprise as one which increases its number of employees by more than 10 per cent per year over a three-year period. Only companies with at least 10 employees at the start of the growth period are taken into consideration.

The second highest figure was in the United Kingdom (12.9 per cent) followed by Latvia (12.8 per cent), Ireland (12.6 per cent), Sweden (12.3 per cent) and Hungary (12.1 per cent). Such enterprises amounted to less than three per cent in Romania (2.3 per cent) and Cyprus (2.2 per cent).

Eurostat noted that high-growing enterprises had a noteworthy impact on employment.

In 2014, the highest contributions of high-growth enterprises to the total number of employees were recorded in the United Kingdom (19.3 per cent), Ireland (19.1 per cent), Bulgaria (18 per cent), Hungary (17.9 per cent), Malta (17.5 per cent) and Latvia (17.4 per cent).

The lowest share was registered in Cyprus (3.6 per cent), followed at a distance by Romania (6.7 per cent) and Slovenia (8.2 per cent).

Eurostat noted that although high-growth enterprises operated in all sectors of the business economy across the EU, their share in the service sectors was higher in the majority of member states.

More specifically, in 2014 they were particularly concentrated within "information and communication".

This sector was registered among the top three economic branches in 23 states, with the highest percentages being observed in Malta (22.3 per cent), Ireland (19.9 per cent), the United Kingdom (18.6 per cent), Sweden (18.2 per cent) and the Netherlands (17.6 per cent).