BASIC INDICATORS OF BUSINESS DEMOGRAPHY, 2023 – Provisional Data

The business demography statistics encompasses market-oriented enterprises classified in the sections B to S of the National Classification of Activities – NKD 2007, with the exception of section O – Public administration and defence; compulsory social security and division S94 – Activities of membership organisations.

According to the provisional results, in 2023, there was a total of 240 620 active enterprises employing 1 300 996 persons.

Compared to 2022, this was an increase of 5.8% in the number of active enterprises and 3.6% in the number of employed persons.

Within the total number of active enterprises in 2023, the most represented ones were classified in sections Professional, scientific and technical activities (16.7%), Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (14.7%), and Construction (13.1%).

The largest shares in the total number of employed persons were recorded in Manufacturing (21.2%), Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (19.5%) and Construction (11.5%).

In 2023, the largest number of new enterprises appeared in Professional, scientific and technical activities (5 062 of them), in Construction (4 552 of them) and in Administrative and support service activities (2 907 of them). In the aforementioned activities, the newly-created enterprises also employed the largest number of employed persons, among which Construction was at the top with 6 114 employed persons.

When observing individual activity sections, the largest increase in the number of new enterprises compared to the previous year, 2022, was recorded in Education (63.6%), Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (59.7%), and Transportation and storage (54.8%). Such a significant increase was caused by an increase in the number of newly-registered enterprises in Sports and recreation education (class 85.51) and Other education n. e. c. (class 85.59) within section P, an increase in the number of producers of electricity from renewable sources (within class 35.11) in section D and a large number of newly-registered enterprises in Taxi operation (class 49.32), Freight transport by road (class 49.41) and Other postal and courier activities (class 53.20) in section H.

The survival rates had no major deviations compared to previous periods.

Within the total number of enterprise deaths in 2022, the largest shares belonged to enterprises in Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (15.6%), in Professional, scientific and technical activities (14.5%) and in Accommodation and food service activities (13.0%). In the mentioned sections, the most enterprise deaths were recorded in the following classes: Non-specialised wholesale trade and Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (within section G), Business and other management consultancy activities (within section M), and Beverage serving activities (within section I). In the mentioned sections, there was also the highest number of employed persons who lost their jobs due to the cessation of enterprises.

High-growth enterprises – those that have an average annual growth of 10% or more over a three-year period – have been in the spotlight for years as they drive economic growth and create new jobs. In the statistics of high-growth enterprises, enterprises employing 10 or more persons in the first year of the observed period are monitored.

In the period from 2020 to 2023, high-growth enterprises were mostly represented in Manufacturing (396 of them) and they employed 22 806 persons in the last year of observation. In terms of the number of employees in the category of high-growth enterprises, the leading ones were classified in Section I – Accommodation and food service activities, which employed 25 719 persons in 2023.

 

 

NKD 2007 sections
B Mining and quarrying
C Manufacturing
D Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
E Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
F Construction
G Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
H Transportation and storage
I Accommodation and food service activities
J Information and communication
K Financial and insurance activities
L Real estate activitie
M Professional, scientific and technical activities
N Administrative and support service activities
P Education
Q Human health and social work activities
R Arts, entertainment and recreation
S Other service activities (except S94)

 

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Business demography data are prepared in line with the methodology developed by Eurostat and OECD. Since the reference year 2021, methodological standards have been applied in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, repealing 10 legal acts in the field of business statistics, which extends the coverage to the entire section K – Financial and insurance activities and excludes division S94 – Activities of membership organisations.

Data sources

Business demography statistics is based on data from the Statistical Business Register (SBR) of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.

Observation units

The main observation unit used for business demography statistics is an enterprise. Each enterprise as a whole is assigned a code number of its principal activity according to the National Classification of Activities. The principal activity is determined and updated by the Statistical Business Register. The criterion for determining the principal activity is the largest share in the total value added of an enterprise. If it is not possible to obtain accurate information on the value added, substitute criteria, such as income and/or the number of persons employed, are applied. For enterprises classified in section K – Financial and insurance activities, the observation units are still legal and natural persons that are used as substitutes for enterprises.

Coverage

Business demography data refer to market-oriented enterprises registered in the SBR that are classified in sections B – S according to the NKD 2007, with the exception of section O – Public administration and defence; compulsory social security and division S94 – Activities of membership organisations.

Definitions and explanations

Enterprise in the statistical sense is a business entity that represents an organisational unit for producing goods and/or services and benefits from a certain degree of autonomy. Depending on the business and organisational situation, it may correspond to only one legal unit or a group of several legal units. In addition to legal entities, enterprises also include free lances and crafts (since 2019, also those whose activity has been determined on the basis of lump sum income tax reports). Council Regulation (EEC) No. 696/93 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community is fully implemented, and enterprises become the central observation unit in business demography. Until the 2019 reference year, legal entities and natural persons were treated as proxies for enterprises, while the use of the common EU definition of enterprises will ensure a clear distinction between these terms.

Number of active enterprises is the number of enterprises registered in the Statistical Business Register that were active during at least a part of the reference year.

Enterprise is considered to be active if it either had employment or realised turnover or investments.

Number of persons employed (Number of employees and self-employed persons) is defined as the total number of persons who work in an enterprise (including working proprietors, partners working regularly in the unit, unpaid family workers and voluntary workers), as well as persons who work outside the enterprise who belong to it and are paid by it, calculated as an annual average.

Number of (paid) employees is the number of persons who have an employment contract (which may be formal or informal) and work for an enterprise in return for remuneration in cash or in kind, regardless of where the work is done (inside or outside the enterprise).

Enterprise births include enterprises that started an economic activity in the reference year.

Births exclude events such as mergers, break-ups, split-offs or restructuring of a set of enterprises.

Enterprise birth is not equal to the registration of an enterprise in a competent register. It is the result of the comparison and analysis of populations of active enterprises in three consecutive years.

Enterprise deaths include enterprises that have not been economically active for two consecutive years after the last year of activity. Deaths exclude enterprises that ceased to operate due to a split-up, take-over or merger.

Survived enterprise is the one without discontinuity in its activity status in years after the year of birth.

Survival rate of newly born enterprises in a given reference period is the number of enterprises that were born in year xx-n and survived to year xx as a percentage of all enterprises born in year xx-n.

Number of high-growth enterprises is the number of enterprises which employ more than 10 paid employees at the beginning of the observed period, with an average annualised growth of more than 10% during the next three years. The population excludes newly-born enterprises in the base year (t-3) and those whose growth is the result of the merger or takeover of other companies.

Territorial constitution

Population covers enterprises residing in the Republic of Croatia.

 

Abbreviations
EEC	European Economic Community
EU	European Union
Eurostat	Statistical Office of the European Communities
OECD	Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

 

Symbols
...	data not available

 

 

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Persons responsible:
Milenka Primorac Čačić, Director of Business Statistics Directorate
Lidija Brković, Director General

Prepared by:
Zrinka Pavlović and Ana Veledar

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