So far, the lack of consistent and reliable data on microfinance in Europe prevented the conduct a comprehensive analysis of the performance of Microfinance institutions (MFIs), especially their capacity to meet policy expectation in terms of social objectives and financial sustainability in the long term. We constructed an original longitudinal dataset of 357 European MFIs observed between 2006 and 2015, based on raw data from the European Microfinance Network (EMN) overview survey. We use this data to carry out the first in-depth analysis of trends in European microfinance and the interaction between social and financial performance during the period 2006-2013. It emerges that microfinance in Europe is a highly segmented and heterogeneous industry, both in terms of providers’ institutional characteristics and regional business models.