Luxembourg has the fifth highest proportion of ICT workers of any country in the EU, a Europe-wide study has found.

According to recently published eurostat figures ICT professionals made up 4.6% of Luxembourg’s workforce in 2015, equivalent to 12,000 people.

The number shows a gradual growth from 2011, when 9,800 ICT professionals were employed in the Grand Duchy, equivalent to 4.3% of the workforce.

Luxembourg has made a conscious effort to expand this sector of the economy introducing a number of measures including more recently, grants for ICT start-ups under the Fit for Start programme.

Across the European Union, nearly 8 milllion people were employed as ICT specialists in 2015, accounting for 3.5% of all jobs.

The biggest employer was Finland (6.5%), followed by Sweden (6.1%), then the Netherlands and UK (both 5%). Greece employed the smallest proportion of ICT professionals accounting for just 1.2% of employment across the EU.

Overall, the number of ICT specialists employed across the EU rose by almost 1.5 million people between 2011 and 2015.

The strongest growth during this period was observed in Germany, France, Estonia, Hungary, Portugal and Finland.