Counts of actively trading businesses, rates of entry to and exit from the market sector of the economy, and rates of business survival
At 30 June 2024 there were 2,662,998 actively trading businesses in the Australian economy.
In 2023-24 there was a:
The number of actively trading businesses in this release differs from the total number of entities with an Australian Business Number (ABN).
A table of the conceptual and practical basis of counts is published in the Methodology publication detailing how these counts differ.
In 2023-24 the three industries with the largest percentage increase in businesses were:
The industries with the largest percentage decrease in businesses in 2023-24 were:
In 2023-24 there was a:
All states and territories showed a growth in business counts.
In 2023-24 there was a:
Households accounted for 49.9% of all businesses, the largest of any institutional sector.
In 2023-24 total companies showed the largest net growth among types of legal organisations, showing a 5.4% (58,688) increase to 1,153,149 businesses in total, with 185,819 entries.
There was also a:
In 2023-24 the number of non-employing businesses increased by 4.9% (78,144), with a net movement of 33,783 surviving businesses from employing to non-employing.
There was also a:
In 2023-24:
In the September quarter 2024 there was a:
For more information on the methodological differences between the quarterly and annual counts, see the Technical note.
In the September quarter 2024, the subdivisions with the largest quarterly net increase in businesses were:
The subdivisions with the largest quarterly net decrease in businesses were:
There is a strong seasonal pattern in the counts of Total Businesses, Business Entries and Business Exits. To assist in distinguishing between short-term trends and the seasonal patterns, seasonally adjusted counts have been prepared for these headline figures. For more information, see the Methodology.
In the September 2024 quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms, there was a:
| Jun-24 | Change (%) | Sep-24 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | ||||
| Total Businesses | 2,662,211 | 1 | 2,692,391 | 1.1 |
| Business Entries | 130,046 | 4.9 | 142,199 | 5.3 |
| Business Exits | 104,952 | 4 | 112,019 | 4.2 |
| Seasonally Adjusted | ||||
| Total Businesses | 2,658,650 | 0.5 | 2,673,347 | 0.5 |
| Business Entries | 130,981 | 4.9 | 127,433 | 5.3 |
| Business Exits | 128,049 | 4.8 | 109,193 | 4.2 |
Trend estimates are not calculated for these series as they require the irregular component to be accounted for and this cannot be accurately estimated.
Data cube 1 tables 1-16 are released in August.
Data cube 1 tables 17-20 and data cubes 2-11 are released in December.
Quarterly and seasonally adjusted data is released in February, May, August and December.
17 December 2024 - Datacubes 2-11 and tables 17-20 in datacube 1, September 2024 quarterly data and the interactive map are being released today.
13 September 2024 - Data cube 1 re-released to correct an error. This error was exclusive to tables 13b and 14b in this data cube. No other data cubes have been affected.
All actively trading businesses in the Australian market sector
Excluding:
Data available for:
Australian Bureau of Statistics Business Register (ABSBR)
Administrative data collected quarterly or annually for Australian Business Number (ABN) registrations recorded in the Australian Business Register (ABR), and business data from the Australian Tax Office (ATO)
Classifications used to compile the data:
The total counts of businesses for the 2021-22 financial year have been revised