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 2023 there were 2,589,873 actively trading businesses in the Australian economy.
In 2022-23 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 2022-23 the three industries with the largest net increase in businesses were:
Health Care and Social Assistance (increase of 10,721 to 185,260 businesses)
Transport, Postal and Warehousing (increase of 5,040 to 218,662 businesses)
Professional, Scientific and Technical services (increase of 4,960 to 336,214 businesses)
The industry with the largest net decrease in businesses in 2022-23 was:
In 2022-23 there was a:
In 2022-23 there was a:
Households accounted for 53.4% of all businesses, the largest of any institutional sector.
In 2022-23 total companies had the largest net growth of any type of legal organisation, increasing by 42,246 businesses, or 4.0% to 1,094465 total. This was driven by births of total companies, with 137,164 entries
There was also a:
In 2022-23 the number of non-employing businesses increased by 2.3% (35,542), with a net movement of 35,509 surviving businesses from employing to non-employing.
There was also a:
8.0% (362) increase in businesses with 200+ employees to 4,895 total
In the June quarter 2023 there was a:
For more information on the methodological differences between the quarterly and annual counts, see the Technical note.
In the June quarter 2023, the subdivisions with the largest quarterly net increase 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 June 2023 quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms, there was a:
Australian Business Register (ABR) initiated cancellations substantially increased in the September and December quarters 2022 from 2020 or 2021 (in line with pre-COVID levels in 2019). The focus of bulk cancellations continues to be businesses that have recently lodged but not reported business activity (and there is no other data indicating their entitlement to an ABN). Increases in cancellations, as well as long term non-remitters, can be seen in the seasonally adjusted data.
| Mar-23 | Change (%) | Jun-23 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | ||||
| Total Businesses | 2,552,810 | 0.5 | 2,589,873 | 1.5 |
| Business Entries | 106,534 | -0.04 | 122,749 | 15.2 |
| Business Exits | 95,185 | 38.4 | 85,686 | -10.0 |
| Seasonally Adjusted | ||||
| Total Businesses | 2,563,632 | 0.3 | 2,583,507 | 0.8 |
| Business Entries | 118,012 | -1.6 | 122,477 | 3.8 |
| Business Exits | 111,804 | -1.5 | 106,074 | -5.1 |
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.
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:
Since the 2020-21 release, ANZSIC class 6330 (superannuation funds) has been removed from scope