The number of professional firefighters in the European Union has increased in the last year, according to data released by Eurostat. This involves around 362,000 professionals, equivalent to 0.18% of the total number of people employed in the countries of the community bloc. Portugal has 13,700 professional firefighters, ranking ninth among the various Member States.

Of this total number of professional firefighters, more than seven in ten (61%) are between 30 and 49 years old. “Among them, the largest subgroup is that comprising firefighters aged 40 to 44 (65,600 individuals), followed by those aged between 35 and 39 (59,100 firefighters).

Among the various Member States, Germany has the largest number of professional firefighters: 61,700. This is followed by France (47,700 firefighters) and Spain (42,100 firefighters). Portugal, with 13,700 professional firefighters, appears in ninth place in this table.