Our materials compile key results for the Information and communication sector (ICT sector), with a particular focus on 'Computer programming, consultancy and related activities' in Europe.
The report includes data on which European countries are seeing the highest growth in the ICT sector, measured by (1) turnover, (2) prices, and (3) employee salary levels.
(!) The dashboard is interactive and will automatically update as new statistics and date become available.

Net turnover growth

The Computer programming, consultancy and related activities industry, as well as the broader Information and communication sector (ICT sector), continue to actively increase their net turnover in all European countries without exception. As part of their analysis, CDP center experts also compared the trend of growth in nominal turnover of companies in this sector and industry with the growth of prices and labor costs across European countries.

Leading countries in nominal turnover growth in the Computer programming, consultancy and related activities industry:

Estonia is the undeniable leader in the growth of the computer programming industry for the first quarter of 2025. It has increased its volume by more than 2.3 times compared to 2021 levels, with its turnover index rising by +136 percentage points. Following closely are Lithuania, Romania, and Poland, with minimal differences in their turnover index growth, ranging from +86.8 to +82.3 percentage points.

The list of leading countries in growth for Q1 2025 remains stable and largely mirrors the top performers of 2024. This suggests a systemic growth pattern in the computer programming industry within these nations. The only exceptions are Norway, which wasn't in the top 10 in 2024 but is now, and Greece, which showed strong results in 2024 but hasn't yet entered the top leaders' list for 2025.

Industry vs. Sector Growth: Computer Programming Outpaces Overall ICT

In most European countries, the Computer programming, consultancy and related activities industry is growing faster than the broader Information and communication sector. For instance, in countries like Poland, Sweden, Greece, Romania, and Estonia, the growth rate of the industry exceeded the sector's growth by over 30% in 2025.

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However, there are exceptions. In countries like Luxembourg, Denmark, and Lithuania, the overall sector's growth rate is slightly, but consistently, outpacing the growth in computer programming. This difference can likely be attributed to computer programming being a dynamically developing, innovative, and export-driven industry in most countries. It tends to be less dependent on infrastructure and regulatory constraints compared to the broader ICT sector.

Interestingly, there's also a group of countries where the industry and sector growth are aligned and developing synchronously. These include Portugal, Malta, Czechia, Slovakia, Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Switzerland, Hungary, and Germany. Among the leading countries in programming industry growth, only Lithuania has managed to achieve a high growth rate not just in the programming industry, but also in the ICT sector as a whole, which is showing outstanding growth.

Price Dynamics in the Computer Programming Industry

When analyzing the turnover dynamics of the computer programming industry, it's certainly important to consider the effect of price increases. As in any other economic activity, price growth in the ICT sector isn't solely linked to inflationary trends. Instead, it's primarily driven by qualitative changes in the level and types of products and services offered by programming companies.

Based on our assessments, we should therefore speak less about price increases due to general inflation and more about shifts in qualitative characteristics and underlying technologies. It's important to understand that because the market is generally open and highly competitive, domestic inflation has only a minimal impact on price growth for companies in this industry.

It's interesting to note that almost all of the leading countries in terms of computer programming industry growth rates have also seen their companies' prices increase above the EU average. The sole exception to this trend is Cyprus.

Wages and Salaries (in the ICT sector)

It's important to note that despite almost all countries in the Top 10 for programming industry volume growth also being leaders in the growth of wages and salaries within the ICT sector, they have not yet exhausted their potential for salary growth in this sector. They continue to leverage their competitive advantage: relatively low labor costs.

Almost all countries from the Top 10 list for programming industry volume growth are leaders among European countries in terms of overall growth in salaries and bonuses within the ICT sector. In most of these countries, the increase exceeded 30% compared to 2021 levels.  In contrast, the average European increase was only 19.5%. The exceptions are Norway, Malta, and Sweden, where salary growth was limited by an already high salary base in 2021.

Ireland leads in growth in wages and salaries: it has the highest average wages in 2024 (59.700 EUR). This significant increase could indicate strong economic growth, rising wages, and changes in the composition of its workforce.

Denmark (54.500 EUR) and Luxembourg (53.000 EUR) have the highest average salary in ICT among the EU countries, indicating they remain among the most expensive places to employ workers.

Germany, Austria, and Belgium show moderate but significant growth in wages in the ICT (around 17-19%).

What's interesting is that in almost all EU countries, the ICT sector is the highest-paying, competing only with the financial sector and the "Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply" sector.

One of the few exceptions is Belgium, where the Education sector holds the top spot for average pay.