Last Year’s Active Companies Increased for 8 Consecutive Years
New Companies Declined Due to Real Estate Impact
Last year, the number of active enterprises reached approximately 7.54 million, the largest scale since the statistics began. However, recently, the growth rate of active enterprises has been slowing down. The number of new enterprises also showed a negative trend for the third consecutive year, resulting in the lowest ever recorded birth rate, which is the proportion of new enterprises among active enterprises.
According to the '2023 Business Birth and Death Administrative Statistics Results' announced by Statistics Korea on the 27th, the number of active enterprises with sales or regular employees last year was 7,539,000, an increase of 2.5% (186,000) compared to the previous year. The number of active enterprises has increased for eight consecutive years since 2016, and last year recorded the largest scale since the related statistics began in 2011.
By industry, active enterprises decreased in manufacturing (-1,000, -0.2%) and agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (-1,000, -2.4%), but increased in wholesale and retail trade (39,000, 2.5%), accommodation and food service activities (26,000, 2.9%), and real estate activities (22,000, 1.3%). The proportion of active enterprises was highest in real estate activities (22.6%), wholesale and retail trade (21.4%), and accommodation and food service activities (12.2%).
By company size, last year, the number of active small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was 7,529,000, an increase of 2.5% (185,000) compared to the previous year. Large enterprises increased by 6.8% (1,000) to 10,000. The composition ratio was 99.87% for SMEs and 0.13% for large enterprises. In particular, the proportion of small business owners rose for two consecutive years, reaching 94.24% last year.
Among active enterprises, the proportion of companies with male representatives was 60.3%, and female representatives accounted for 39.7%. As women's economic participation has increased, the proportion of companies with female representatives has been rising annually. Last year’s proportion marked the highest since the related statistics began.
Looking at the age of active enterprise representatives last year, those in their 50s accounted for 30.1%, those in their 60s 23.1%, and those in their 40s 22.9%. Due to aging, the proportion of representatives in their 60s has steadily increased, and last year, for the first time, the proportion of companies with representatives in their 60s surpassed those with representatives in their 40s.
The Number of New Enterprises Declines for Three Consecutive Years
Among active enterprises last year, the number of new enterprises was 956,000, a decrease of 42,000 (-4.2%) compared to the previous year. This marks the third consecutive year of negative growth since 2021. The decline has gradually expanded from 2021 (-35,000), 2022 (-36,000), to last year.
By industry, new enterprises increased in accommodation and food service activities (13,000, 8.7%), but decreased significantly in real estate activities (-38,000, -17.1%) and transportation and storage (-7,000, -9.9%). Last year’s high interest rates, high inflation, and poor economic conditions, including a sluggish real estate market, influenced the changes in the number of new enterprises.
In 2022, the number of disappearing enterprises among active enterprises was 751,000, an increase of 15,000 (2.1%) compared to the previous year. Although the decline was notable in real estate activities (-25,000, -14.0%), increases in wholesale and retail trade (12,000, 6.4%), education services (6,000, 25.6%), and accommodation and food service activities (6,000, 4.8%) contributed to this result.
Last year, the birth rate of active enterprises was 12.7%, down 0.9 percentage points from the previous year. The death rate among active enterprises in 2022 was 10.2%, down 0.1 percentage points. Both the birth rate and death rate are the lowest recorded since the related statistics began.
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