This index has a fixed number of 600 components representing large, mid and small capitalization companies among 17 European countries, covering approximately 90% of the free-float market capitalization of the European stock market (not limited to the Eurozone).

The countries that make up the index are the United Kingdom (composing around 22.3% of the index), France (composing around 16.6% of the index), Switzerland (composing around 14.9% of the index) and Germany (composing around 14.1% of the index),[1] as well as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

Its composition is reviewed four times a year, in March, June, September, December.

It is licensed to financial institutions to serve as underlying for a wide range of investment products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), futures, options, and structured products worldwide.

The following table shows the end-of-year values of the STOXX Europe 600 index since 1998.