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More businesses opened than dissolved in the EU in 2022

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In 2022, there was a total of over 32 million enterprises in the EU, 3.4 million new enterprises were born that year, and according to the preliminary data, 2.8 enterprise deaths were registered. The enterprise birth rate was 10.5% while the preliminary rate of enterprise deaths stood at 8.7%.

This information comes from data on business demography published by Eurostat. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on business demography.

Enterprise demography in the EU in 2022, % of enterprise births and deaths among active enterprises. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: bd_l_form

In most EU countries, in 2022, more companies were created than dissolved. The exceptions were Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Denmark, Poland and Germany, where the death rates of enterprises were higher than the birth rates.

The highest enterprise birth rates were recorded in Lithuania (18.3%), Portugal (16.7%) and Estonia (16.6%). In contrast, the lowest rates were registered in Austria (6.2%), Denmark (7.4%) and Italy (7.9%). 

The highest death rates of enterprises were registered in Estonia (25.1%), Bulgaria (20.6%) and Ireland (15.6%), according to the preliminary data. The lowest rates were registered in Greece (3.1%), Belgium (5.2%) and Cyprus (5.8%). 

For more information

Methodological notes

  • Business demography covers statistics about, amongst other things, the birth, survival (followed up to 5 years after birth) and death of enterprises within the business population. It reports changes in the stock of enterprises within the business economy from one year to the next, reflecting among other things the level of competition, entrepreneurial spirit and the business environment.
  • The Business Demography Statistics (BD) are compiled along the requirements of the framework for European Business Statistics (EBS). 
  • Enterprise birth amounts to the creation of a combination of production factors, with the restriction that no other enterprises are involved in the event. Births do not include entries into the business population due to mergers, break-ups, split-offs or restructuring of a set of enterprises, nor do the statistics include entries into a sub-population that only result from a change of activity. The birth rate is the number of births relative to the stock of active enterprises.
  • Enterprise birth rate: number of enterprise births in the reference period divided by the number of enterprises active in that same period.
  • Enterprise death amounts to the dissolution of a combination of production factors, with the restriction that no other enterprises are involved in the event. An enterprise is only included in the count of deaths if it is not reactivated within 2 years. Equally, a reactivation within 2 years is not counted as a birth.
  • Enterprise death rate: number of enterprise deaths in the reference period divided by the number of enterprises active in that same period.
  • Eurostat receives preliminary data on enterprise deaths at T+18 (i.e. 18 months after the end of the reference year) and final data on enterprise deaths at T+30 months.

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