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Business data in Germany. Where the records live.
Germany counts roughly 3.3 million companies, and the engine is the Mittelstand, small and mid-sized, often family-owned firms that are frequently world leaders in one narrow niche while being run from a provincial town rather than a metro hub.
What Atlas holds for Germany
Source: the Atlas database, updated automatically.
The official records
The legal source of truth for Germany is Handelsregister.
Germany splits company information across three public systems. The Handelsregister, kept by the local Amtsgericht (district court) and searchable through the federal portal, is the legal record; corporations such as the GmbH and AG sit in section B with an HRB number, while partnerships and registered sole merchants sit in section A with an HRA number, each entry reading like "Amtsgericht München HRB 143210". Annual accounts and capital-market filings are published separately through the Unternehmensregister and Bundesanzeiger, and beneficial-ownership data lives in the Transparenzregister.
How to use the register
- Start from the register, not from a bought list. It is the legal record of every company.
- Read the status field. Registers keep closed companies too. See how many have closed in other registers.
- Check the website belongs to the company, with the registration number or a distinguishing name on the page.
Sources
Descriptions are based on the national sources above. Figures in the text are rounded and change over time. Found an error? Write to atlasforgex@proton.me. More countries: business data by country and registers by country.