In 2024, there are 390,600 professional firefighters in the EU

According to Eurostat, there were 390,600 professional firefighters working in the European Union in 2024, representing 0.19% of total employment. Their number increased by 28,200 over the year, which can be explained by the growing need for civil protection forces against the backdrop of extreme weather events and fire seasons.

Firefighters are not prominent in the employment structure in all countries. Croatia has the highest share of firefighters with 0.45 per cent of employment, followed by Greece (0.41 per cent) and the Czech Republic (0.34 per cent). In contrast, the Netherlands (0.07%), Denmark (0.08%) and Sweden (0.10%) have the lowest proportion of professional firefighters.

At the same time, the profession remains relatively young: 75.2 per cent of firefighters in the EU are under 50 years of age, compared to only 64.8 per cent of all employees. This emphasises both the high physical demands of the profession and the need for constant renewal.

Funding deserves special attention. EU governments spent €40.6bn on "fire protection services" in 2023, up 8.5% from a year earlier. However, in relative terms, spending has remained stable at around 0.5 per cent of total public spending since 2017.

There are also notable differences by country. Romania has the highest share of expenditure on fire protection (0.9% of all public expenditure), followed by Estonia and Greece (0.7% each). While Denmark (0.1 per cent) as well as Malta, Portugal and Austria (0.2-0.3 per cent) spend significantly less in relative terms.