The economy of Berlin is dominated by the service sector, which accounted for 86.8% of GDP in 2025, while the producing sector, including construction, accounted for 13.2%, with manufacturing contributing 6.6%. The service economy includes public administration, health care, education and research, information and communications technology, professional and business services, retail and tourism, transport, financial services, real estate and the creative industries. In 2024, the pharmaceutical industry was Berlin's largest manufacturing branch by turnover, followed by the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Berlin developed into a major European center of industry and finance. Several companies that later became major German industrial and financial enterprises were founded in Berlin, including Siemens, AEG, Allianz, and Deutsche Bank.
World War II and the city's postwar division weakened this position, as many banks and corporate headquarters relocated to West Germany. During the Cold War, West Berlin relied heavily on financial support and tax incentives from West Germany, while East Berlin formed part of East Germany's centrally planned economy. As part of reunification, the Treuhandanstalt restructured or liquidated many formerly state-owned enterprises, while industrial employment fell sharply.;
Following reunification, Berlin's economy became increasingly service-oriented, while information technology, media, and the creative industries grew in importance. Although the city's restoration as Germany's capital attracted national and international companies, relatively few relocated their headquarters to Berlin.
History Berlin was founded at a point where trade routes crossed the river Spree and it quickly became a commercial center. During the early modern period, the city prospered from its role as Prussian capital by manufacturing luxury goods for the Prussian court and supplies for the Prussian military.
Industrial Revolution
During the mid-19th century, the Industrial Revolution transformed the city’s economy. Berlin became Germany’s main rail hub and a center of locomotive manufacturing. The city became a leader in the manufacture of other kinds of machinery as well, and developed an important chemical industry sector. Toward the end of the 19th century, Berlin became a world leader in the then cutting-edge sector of electrical equipment manufacturing. As the de facto center of the German Zollverein, or Customs Union, and later the seat of the Reichsbank, Berlin became Germany’s banking and financial center as well.
Berlin suffered from both the German hyperinflation of the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The city’s economy revived as a center of weapons production under the Nazis, but it lost a pool of entrepreneurial talent when the Nazis forced Jewish businessmen to sell their holdings and ultimately massacred most who did not flee Germany.
After the World Wars
World War II severely damaged Berlin’s industrial infrastructure, and Soviet expropriation of machinery and other capital equipment as war reparations further damaged Berlin’s industrial base. Soviet restrictions on transport impeded communication with West Germany and ended hopes that Berlin would resume a role as Germany’s financial center; most banks established headquarters in Frankfurt. In East Berlin, socialist central planners rebuilt a manufacturing sector, but one that was not competitive internationally or responsive to market demand. West Berlin’s economy grew increasingly dependent on state subsidies and on its role as an educational and research center.
Reunification
Berlin’s and Germany’s unification brought the collapse of many of East Berlin’s producers, which could not compete with market-disciplined Western competitors. Massive unemployment was only partly compensated by the growth of jobs in the construction and infrastructural sectors involved in rebuilding and upgrading East Berlin’s infrastructure. The move of the federal government from Bonn to Berlin in 1999 brought some economic stimulus and tens of thousands of jobs from government employees, parliamentary services, lobbyists and journalism to Berlin. Berlin’s service sectors have also benefited from improved transportation and communications links to the surrounding region.
While some manufacturing remains in the city (Siemens and Bayer Schering Pharma have headquarters in Berlin), the service sectors have become the city’s economic mainstay. Research and development have gained significance, and Berlin was ranked among the top three innovative regions in the EU (after Baden-Württemberg and the Île-de-France in 2006. In the same year unemployment remained high, at 16.5% as of 2006.Landespresseamt URL accessed on 2 November 2006
Fast-growing sectors are communications, life sciences, mobility and services with information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology and environmental services, transportation and medical engineering.Poor but sexy, The Economist, Accessed 12 November 2006 Since 2015 Berlin is the top congress city in the world and is home to one of Europe's biggest convention centers in the form of the CityCube Berlin (formerly Internationales Congress Centrum). It contributes to the increasing tourism sector encompassing 592 hotels with 90,700 beds (2007 figures) and numbered over 22 million overnight stays by 9.8 million tourists in 2011.Berlin-Tourismus steuert neuen Rekord an, Morgenpost, 11 November 2011 Berlin has established itself as the third most visited city destination in the European Union.Jedes Jahr ein neuer Rekord(German), Der Tagesspiegel, Accessed 6 February 2008Land Berlin stützt Tourismuswerbung(German), 6 January 2024
Berlin's economy has grown continuously above the German average in the period from 2005 to 2013.Speech by then Berlin Senator of the Economy, Harald Wolf, held 9 June 2011, retrieved 18 November 2011 This trend is set to continue, with important improvements to infrastructure, such as the biggest European crossing station, Berlin Hauptbahnhof (inaugurated 2006), the opening of the 3rd biggest German airport, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, in 2020 replacing the decrepit Tegel Airport which was not fit to serve as a modern airline hub.Frankfurter Rundschau: Air Berlin hat in Schönefeld großes vor, 31 october 2011, retrieved november 2011
Also, the Berlin music scene, attracting young tourists flying in for the city's clubsweekend.be: Berlin by night, 28 July 2011, retrieved november 2011 has become an increasingly important part of the economy and is set to gain the support of the city music board modeled after the German film promotion authority.Die Tageszeitung: Unterstützung für die Musikbranche, 18 october 2011, retrieved november 2011
Workforce Number of total employees (III/2021): 2,098,400 citizens New jobs in 2016: +46,200 (+2.5%) Unemployment rate (December 2021): 8.8% Number of unemployed people (December 2021): 179,291 Number of job offers in Berlin and Brandenburg in 2017: 46,00046.000 Stellen sind in Berlin und Brandenburg nicht besetzt
Companies
The state-owned railway, Deutsche Bahn, has its headquarters in Berlin."Deutsche Bahn AG at a glance ." Deutsche Bahn. Retrieved on 12 May 2009. Many German and international companies have business or service centres in the city.
Among the 20 largest employers in Berlin are the Deutsche Bahn, the hospital providers, Charité and Vivantes, the local public transport provider, BVG, Siemens, and the telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom. Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW manufactures motorcycles in Berlin. Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city.
Some other notable companies with their headquarters in Berlin are 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, Axel Springer SE, Bombardier Transportation,Bombardier Transportation website Bundesdruckerei, KPMG Deutschland, , Otis Deutschland, Universal Music Germany,Company Website Contact Information Coca-Cola European Partners Deutschland, Delivery Hero, Lloyds Banking Group Europe, solarisBank, N26, Pfizer Germany, Zalando, ImmoScout24, GASAG, HelloFresh, Deutsche Wohnen, and Vattenfall Deutschland.
The top 10 largest employers in Berlin and the surrounding districts in 2025: RankEmployerEmployeesSector1Deutsche Bahn (including S-Bahn Berlin)26,894Transport and logistics2Charité25,256Health care3Vivantes20,649Health care4Edeka17,888Retail5Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG)16,800Public transport6Rewe Markt13,000Retail7Deutsche Post DHL11,500*Postal services and logistics8Tesla11,000*Automotive9Mercedes-Benz9,500*Automotive10Johannesstift Diakonie9,291Health and social care
Tourism
Berlin has 788 hotels with 134,399 beds as of December 2014. In 2016 the visitor figures for Berlin have broken records with 31.1 million overnight stays (+2.7%) and 12.9 million hotel guests (+2.9%). Berlin has a yearly total of estimated 135 million day visitors, which puts it in third place among the most-visited city destinations in Europe. International visitors made up 46 per cent of the overnight stays in 2016. The largest visitor groups are from Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. Briten, Spanier und Amerikaner führen Tourismus-Statistik an, Tagesspiegel, retrieved 22 February 2017
According to ICCA statistics in 2015 Berlin became the top organizer of conferences in the world hosting 195 international meetings. Berlin No.1 city and Germany No.2 country in new ICCA rankings, CMW, retrieved 12 January 2017 It is home to one Europe's biggest convention centers at the Messe Berlin. Several large-scale trade fairs like the consumer electronics trade fair IFA, the ILA Berlin Air Show, Berlin Fashion Week (including the Bread & Butter), Green Week ("Grüne Woche"), the transport fair InnoTrans, the adult entertainment fair Venus and the tourism fair ITB are held in the city.
Media
Berlin is home to many international and regional television and radio stations. The public broadcaster RBB has its headquarters in Berlin as well as the commercial broadcasters MTV Germany, Comedy Central and Welt. German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle has its TV production unit in Berlin, and most national German broadcasters have a studio in the city including Das Erste, ZDF and RTL.
Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Junge Welt, Neues Deutschland, and Die Tageszeitung. The Exberliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical focusing on arts and entertainment. Berlin is also the headquarters of the two major German-language publishing houses Walter de Gruyter and Axel Springer, each of which publish books, periodicals, and multimedia products.
Creative industries
Industries that do business in the creative arts and entertainment are an important and sizable sector of the economy of Berlin. The creative arts sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software,Berlin Cracks the Startup Code, Bloomberg, Retrieved 2017 TV, radio, and video games. Around 22,600 creative enterprises, predominantly SMEs, generated over 18,6 billion Euro in total revenue. Berlin's creative industries have contributed an estimated 20% of Berlin's gross domestic product in 2005.