Business demography

Overview of the results for 2012

In 2012, 24 077 new enterprises with 56 696 employed persons (of which 34 549 were employees) were born. Measured by the number of active enterprises, this equals to a birth rate of 5.9%. The birth rate thus did not change compared to reporting year 2011.

In general, the 2012 birth rate was – as expected – highest (6.0%) in the services sector (sections G-S, NACE Rev.2, excluding 64.2 "Management activities of holding companies"). The birth rate was below average (5.5%) in industry and construction (sections B-F). At NACE Rev.2 section level, high birth rates were recorded in the economic branches of "Administrative and support service activities" (9.0%), “Accommodation and food service activities” (7.8%) as well as in “Transportation and storage” (7.4). The lowest birth rates were recorded in “Mining and quarrying” (1.8%) and in "Human Health and Social work activities" (2.5%).

With respect to the survival of newly born enterprises, the survival rates of a cohort of newly born enterprises are of course declining from one year to another: One year after its birth, at least one enterprise out of ten newly born in 2004 was no longer active on the market; around 90% of those enterprises survived into 2005. The two-year survival rate (from 2004 to 2006) was 81.4%, after three years 74.8% were still active and after four years around two thirds (69.4%) survived. The five-year-survival rate (from 2004 to 2009) amounted to 64.5% and after six years 59.9% were still active and after seven years 55.8% were active. Eight years after the births 51.8% were still active. The highest eight-year-survival rates were registered in the economic branches of "Human Health and Social work activities" (71.7%), "Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply" (64.6%) and "Manufacturing" (61.4%).

A total of 24 920 enterprises with 58 806 employed persons died in 2012, equaling to a death rate of 6.1%. In comparison to the reporting year 2011 the death rate declined (6.1%). The death rate was highest (6.4%) in the services sector (sections G-S, excluding 64.2), while it was lowest (4.8%) in industry and construction. Above-average death rates were recorded in "Transportation and storage" (8.3%), “Accommodation and food service activities” (8.1%) and "Financial and insurance activities" (7.7%). The number of enterprise deaths as a percentage of all active enterprises was lowest in “Mining and quarrying” (1.1%), “Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities” (1.7%) and "Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply" (2.5%).

On average, 2.4 jobs (employed persons per enterprise) were created by newly born enterprises in 2012, while 2.4 jobs were lost per enterprise death. The highest total of employed persons in new enterprises was found in the "Accommodation and food service activities" (11 555); high numbers were also recorded in "Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" (10 437) and in "Construction" (7 102).

Trends from 2004 to 2012

Observing the trends of the reporting period (2004 to 2012) it is shown that the number of newly born enterprises declined by 11.8%. After some fluctuations (highest total: 2005; 28 496 births), the number of births in the year 2012 (24 077) is a bit lower than in 2011 (24 103).

In this eight-year observation period the number of births was growing in the following economic branches: “Accommodation and food service activities” (+14.5%) and “Other service activities” (+13.5%). In the economic sector “Arts, entertainment and recreation” (-46.9%) the number of births declined most.

In 2010, the number of deaths of enterprises started to get higher than the number of births. Over the eight-year time period, the number of enterprise deaths was most on the increase in the economic sectors “Financial and insurance activities” (+151.1%), “Other service activities” (+91.1%) and “Human Health and Social work activities” (+83.1%).

Further information on the methodology of the data collection.

Information on Employer Enterprise Statistics.