Gothenburg

Gothenburg facts and figures

AN Expansive business environment

Gothenburg has a broad and multifaceted business environment with 750 industries represented. The region is home to global brands such as Volvo, SKF, Ericsson and AstraZeneca, and is characterised by a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Prominent clusters include construction, transport and logistics, ICT industries, automotive, creative and cultural industries, life sciences and cleantech.  

540
k
people employed
120
k
establishments
7.5
k
newly started companies in 2018
€58
bn
gross regional product
€132
bn
turnover

Sweden’s leading R&D region for businesses

Gothenburg is a leading research region characterised by large knowledge-intensive companies and close collaboration between the private, public and academic sectors. The region is home to highly regarded universities and science parks, as well as around 100 testbeds. The Gothenburg region is ranked as one of the most innovative regions in the EU, according to the European Commission, and in terms of patents per capita, Gothenburg is among the top 15 most inventive cities in the world. During 2019, 1/3 of Sweden's total R&D investments within the private sector were made in Gothenburg's county, Västra Götaland - the highest among Swedish counties.  

33
%
of Sweden's private R&D investments
61
%
of Sweden's private R&D investments in automotive
42
%
of Sweden's private R&D investments in chemical, food and pharmaceuticals

Competitive on the international stage

Gothenburg reguarly scores highly in European and global comparisons on everything from innovation and sustainability to human capital and lifestyle. Here are just a few examples: 

Leader +
European innovation leader among 238 regions (European Commission, 2019)
1
st
World's most sustainable destination (Global Destination Sustainability Index, 2019)
1
st
Best logistics location in Sweden (Intelligent Logistik, 2020)
1
st
Winner of the European Entrepreneurial Region Award 2020 (European Committee of the Regions, European Union)
1
st
of 39 global cities: Sociable City Index (Hostel World, 2017)
2
nd
of 50 cities: World's smartest cities (Future Today Institute, 2019)
2
nd
Best for human capital and lifestyle among large European cities (fDi, 2020/21)
5
th
Best for business friendliness among large European cities (fDi, 2020/21)
9
th
of 490 cities: Most liveable city in the world for European expats (ECA International, 2020)
9
th
Best investment location among large European cities (fDi, 2020/21)

A RICH EXCHANGE WITH THE WORLD

Gothenburg is an important hub for Swedish imports and exports, with established trade routes to all major markets. Meanwhile, every fifth employee in the region works for a foreign-owned company and every fifth resident is foreign-born. More and more people are also visiting the city for meetings, events and leisure.  

16
%
of Sweden's exports
13
%
of Sweden's imports
2.3
k
foreign owned companies
Exports
Top countries by value: Norway, USA, Germany, China and UK
Imports
Top countries by value: Germany, Norway, Netherlands, UK and Denmark

A Highly skilled workforce

With high quality universities and world-class companies, Gothenburg is a popular place to live, work and study. Our residents are relatively young and more highly educated than the national average. Gothenburg and West Sweden also rank highly in international comparisons on human capital and lifestyle.

58
k
university students
140
vocational programmes
1.2
m
residents in the Gothenburg's labour market region

Reports & Publications

View of Gothenburg

Use our data tools

Explore industry clusters, analyze our talent pool, compare Gothenburg with other communities, and more

You may also like