According to Eurostat, about 4.5% of the total employment in the European Union, approximately 9.4 million people, work in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector. The vast majority, or 4.2% of total employment, is engaged in agriculture.

The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector continue to be a significant source of employment, especially in the Eastern and Southern EU countries.

Looking at the NUTS 3 regional data, the regions of Vaslui (61.7%) and Neamț (51.4%) in Romania reported the highest employment rates in this sector.

In addition, 114 regions had over 16.5% of the workforce employed in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, with concentrations in Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Portugal, and Romania.

At the lower end of the range, 137 regions in 2020 had less than 0.5% of the workforce engaged in agriculture, forestry, and fishing.

In absolute numbers, the regions with the highest employment in agriculture, forestry, and fishing were predominantly in Romania, with 8 out of the top 10 regions.

The Iași region in Romania had the highest number, with 146,200 employees, followed by four other regions in Romania with over 100,000 employees each.

Apart from the regions in Romania, only two other regions made it into the top 10 NUTS 3 regions with the highest employment figures in agriculture, forestry, and fishing: Sandomiersko jędrzejowski in southeastern Poland and Almería in southern Spain.