The Netherlands has more listed high-tech companies than any other country in Europe and is second worldwide, according to a ranking by international news agency Bloomberg.

Bloomberg looked at 100 countries to determine which had the highest percentage of listed companies operating in high-tech sectors. These include companies specialising in aerospace and defence, biotechnology, hardware, software and services, semiconductors and renewable energy.

The US, where nearly 23% of listed companies are considered to be high-tech, topped the ranking. In the Netherlands, 19% of firms were said to be high-tech while Sweden was third with 18%.

Only companies that have been listed a year or longer and have a market value of at least $1m were included in the list, which was published in late May.