In 2020 there were 3,833 Swedish controlled enterprise groups with affiliates abroad, an increase of 20 groups since 2019. Of these enterprise groups 1,215 or 32 per cent had subsidiaries in Norway. 21 per cent of the enterprise groups had subsidiaries established in Denmark and 20 per cent in Finland.

The number of employees in the Swedish controlled enterprise groups with affiliates abroad amounted to over 2.1 million, a decrease of 2,5 per cent over the preceding year. The number of employees abroad decreased by 44,065 to 1,472,200 and the number in Sweden decreased by 11,019 to 679,682 employees.

The largest decreases in individual countries took place in the US where the number of employees in the Swedish controlled groups decreased by 19,227 and in Great Britain, where the number of employees decreased by 9,573. Swedish controlled enterprise groups also increased their number of employees in a few countries, in Norway their number of employees increased by 2,414 and in the Netherlands by 2,333 employees.

The countries where Swedish enterprise groups had their largest number of employees were US with 214,405, Germany with 103,416 and China with 90,983 employees.

Approximately half of the employees abroad were in a group with at least 5,000 employees in Sweden. The 29 enterprise groups with at least 5,000 employees in Sweden accounted for about 50 per cent of all employees in foreign countries, and 38 per cent of employees in Sweden.

The total turnover for the Swedish groups with affiliates abroad accounted to SEK 6,421 billion for year 2020. Abroad the total turnover was SEK 3,797 billion and the total turnover in Sweden was SEK 2,624 billion. That was an decrease of 5 per cent abroad and an increase of 4 per cent in Sweden over the preceding year.