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Enterprise Births, Survivals and Deaths

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CSO Business Demography data monitors the number of enterprise births (new enterprises created) and deaths (enterprises that ceased trading) in the business economy. Births and deaths due to mergers, takeovers, break-ups, change of activity or the restructuring of a set of enterprises are all excluded from the data.

This chapter presents this information at a broad sectoral level as well as for the total business economy. It is also possible to track new enterprise births in order to gain a better understanding of the types of business that are more likely to survive the early years of their life cycle1.

1 See Appendix 2 for full definitions of enterprise births and deaths.

BirthsDeaths
20081544419157
20091784519242
20101395517022
20111434315177
20121507916199
20131382520080
201416256
  • The number of enterprise births in 2014 were above 2008 levels, having reached its highest level (17,845 enterprise births) in 2009. 
  • Enterprise deaths reached its highest level in 2013 (20,080 enterprise deaths) for the 2008 - 2013 period. The number of enterprise deaths in 2013 increased marginally over the 2008 level (4.8% higher).
  • During the period 2008 - 2013, 2013 showed the largest difference between the number of enterprise deaths and births with 6,255 more enterprise deaths.

 

BirthsDeaths
20082287234711
20091808928406
20101696123689
20111679420750
20121860520467
20131650523127
201419382
  • The number of persons engaged in enterprise births increased in 2014, while the number of persons engaged in ceased enterprises increased relative to the previous two years. 
  • In comparison, the number of persons engaged in enterprise births (2014) and enterprise deaths (2013) were both below the levels experienced in 2008. 
  • The number of persons engaged in both enterprise births and enterprise deaths experienced a downward trend between 2008 and 2011. 
Industry Construction DistributionServicesFinancial and Insurance
2008732344324538379437
2009970357327589646898
2010778246725527710448
2011895258926837791385
2012925275727048174519
2013968247323047441639
20141110352624688734418
  • All sectors showed an annual increase in the number of new enterprise births in 2014, except for the Financial and Insurance Sector (decrease of 34.6%).
  • The number of new births in 2014 were higher across all sectors than the levels experienced in 2008, again, with the exception of the Financial and Insurance Sector. 
  • All sectors experienced their highest new enterprise birth levels in 2009, except for Industry which recorded their highest birth number in 2014. 
IndustryConstructionDistributionServicesFinancial and Insurance
200821004009406912275419
200912792749315510589317
20107112432320610308304
2011995267933529474294
201220702817290210105711
2013910249733389250510
201412763663285011156437
  • The number of persons engaged in new enterprise births increased in 2014 across Services, Construction and Industry, with Distribution and Financial and Insurance experiencing a decrease compared to 2013. 
  • Persons engaged in new enterprise births were lower in 2014 compared to 2008 (2008 shows the highest level in the period for all sectors except for Financial and Insurance) for Industry, Services, Distribution and Construction. Financial and Insurance was the only sector showing a slight increase. 
IndustryConstructionDistributionServicesFinancial and Insurance
2008928751828487565298
20091058614630398547452
2010963469728578066439
2011874378627717363383
2012957358429528144562
201311604418344910057996
  • All sectors showed an annual increase in the number enterprise deaths in 2013, with the Financial and Insurance sector showing the largest increase of over 77.2%. 
  • Although the number of overall deaths increased in the 2008 - 2013 period, the number of deaths in Construction dropped by 41.2% in the same period. 
  • The number of enterprise deaths in Construction showed an increase in 2013 for the first time in the 2008 - 2013 period. 
IndustryConstructionDistributionServicesFinancial and Insurance
2008228512457604413586339
200920487668547512857358
2010128153724708110781250
201112784080453710504351
201214003508455510673331
201314264110462912566396
  • The number of persons engaged in enterprise deaths showed an increase across all sectors in 2013 relative to 2012. The largest increase occurred in Services with 17.7%, closely followed by Construction with 17.2%.  
  • All 2013 levels were below 2008 levels except for Financial and Insurance which showed an increase of 16.8% (albeit a sector with relatively low number of persons engaged in enterprise deaths).  
  • During the period 2008 - 2013, Construction showed an increase in the number of persons engaged in enterprise deaths for the first time in 2013. The 2013 level was still over 67% of the level experienced in 2008. 
2008 births2009 births2010 births2011 births2012 births2013 births
Year of birth154441784513955143431507913825
Survived 1 year132861510012181129701325611708
Survived 2 years1211313777116781194311692
Survived 3 years11132129221077510720
Survived 4 years10521120709742
Survived 5 years999410958
  • Over 29% of all enterprises that were active during 2014 began trading in the period 2009 - 2014 inclusive. 
  • The one year survival rate (relating to enterprises born in one year and still active in the next year) decreased slightly from 2009 to 2014 from 86% in 2009 to 84.7% in 2014. 
  • There were 17,845 new enterprise births in 2009, with 10,958 of these still active in 2014. 
2008 births2009 births2010 births2011 births2012 births2013 births
Year of birth228721808916961167941860516505
Survived 1 year197802214114681150051568314428
Survived 2 years1780715889137921371514800
Survived 3 years16584156151280612492
Survived 4 years154051232711860
Survived 5 years1475711903
  • There were 18,089 persons engaged in enterprise births in 2009, of which 65.8% (11,903 persons engaged) were still engaged in 2014. 
  • The five year survival rate for persons engaged in enterprise births in 2008 was slightly higher than the 2009 level. Of the 22,872 persons engaged in active enterprises in 2008, 64.5% (14,757 persons engaged) were still engaged in 2013. 
2.1 Number of enterprise births and associated persons engaged by sector, 2008 to 2014

2.2 Number of enterprise deaths and associated persons engaged by sector, 2008 to 2013

2.3 Number of enterprise survivals and associated persons engaged by sector, 2008 to 2013

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