Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits

Latest release

Counts of actively trading businesses, rates of entry to and exit from the market sector of the economy, and rates of business survival

Reference period

July 2021 - June 2025

Released

26/08/2025

Next release 16/12/2025

Release date and time

26/08/2025 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

At 30 June 2025 there were 2,729,648 actively trading businesses in the Australian economy, with 994,178 of these businesses being employing.

In 2024-25 there was a:

2.5% or 66,650 increase in the number of businesses
16.4% entry rate, with 437,150 entries
13.9% exit rate, with 370,500 exits

Discontinuation of experimental quarterly series

From the August 2025 release, this publication will no longer include:

Data cube 12 (Quarterly Counts of Australian Businesses, entries and exits, experimental estimates)
Data cube 13 (Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, time series and seasonally adjusted).

All other datacubes will continue to be published as normal.

The ABS is continuing its modernisation journey through the Big Data Timely Insights Phase 2 program. Part of this program is the development of a new Business Characteristics Asset, which will replace the current source of data for the CABEE publication. The Business Characteristics Asset will enable the ABS to provide additional data on small businesses and more timely insights on business formation and resilience, which will progressively replace the Counts of Australian Businesses, Entries and Exits publication over the next several years.

Entries and exits

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.

Business entries and exits, 2021-22 to 2024-25, Australia
	Entries	Exits	Net change
2021-22	442,555	-305,085	137,470
2022-23	406,365	-356,216	50,149
2023-24	436,018	-362,893	73,125
2024-25	437,150	-370,500	66,650

Business entries and exits, 2021-22 to 2024-25, Australia

["","Entries","Exits","Net change"]

[["2021-22","2022-23","2023-24","2024-25"],[[442555],[406365],[436018],[437150]],[[-305085],[-356216],[-362893],[-370500]],[[137470],[50149],[73125],[66650]]]

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Industry

In 2024-25 the three industries with the largest percentage increase in businesses were:

Health Care and Social Assistance (increase of 6.6% to 213,177 businesses)
Transport, Postal and Warehousing (increase of 5.1% to 249,289 businesses)
Financial and Insurance Services (increase of 3.7% to 133,743 businesses)

The industries with the largest percentage decrease in businesses in 2024-25 were:

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (decrease of 0.8% to 170,890 businesses)
Retail Trade (decrease of 0.4% to 156,169 businesses)

Annual percent change in businesses by industry division, 2024-25
	Annual percent change
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	-0.8
Mining	0.9
Manufacturing	0.2
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services	1.0
Construction	2.2
Wholesale Trade	0.1
Retail Trade	-0.4
Accommodation and Food Services	1.2
Transport, Postal and Warehousing	5.1
Information Media and Telecommunications	1.5
Financial and Insurance Services	3.7
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services	3.1
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	2.5
Administrative and Support Services	2.6
Public Administration and Safety	1.8
Education and Training	2.4
Health Care and Social Assistance	6.6
Arts and Recreation Services	2.3
Other Services	2.7

Annual percent change in businesses by industry division, 2024-25

["","Annual percent change"]

[["Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing","Mining","Manufacturing","Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services","Construction","Wholesale Trade","Retail Trade","Accommodation and Food Services","Transport, Postal and Warehousing","Information Media and Telecommunications","Financial and Insurance Services","Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services","Professional, Scientific and Technical Services","Administrative and Support Services","Public Administration and Safety","Education and Training","Health Care and Social Assistance","Arts and Recreation Services","Other Services"],[[-0.8],[0.9],[0.2],[1],[2.2],[0.1],[-0.4],[1.2],[5.1],[1.5],[3.7],[3.1],[2.5],[2.6],[1.8],[2.4],[6.6],[2.3],[2.7]]]

[]

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States and territories

In 2024-25 there was a:

20,040 increase in the number of businesses in New South Wales, the largest net increase in any state/territory
16,486 increase in the number of businesses in Victoria
10,877 increase in Western Australia, having the largest percentage increase at 4.3%

All states and territories showed a growth in business counts.

Institutional sector

In 2024-25 there was a:

5.6% (5,730) increase in financial corporations to a total of 108,771 businesses
3.4% (41,896) increase in non-financial corporations to a total of 1,272,505 businesses
1.4% (19,073) increase in households to a total of 1,346,835 businesses

Households accounted for 49.3% of all businesses, the largest of any institutional sector.

Type of legal organisation

In 2024-25 total companies showed the largest net growth among types of legal organisations, showing a 4.7% (54,666) increase to 1,207,814 businesses in total, with 190,546 entries.

There was also a:

4.3% (9,226) decrease in partnerships to 204,703 total
2.4% (19,186) increase in sole proprietors to 822,873 total

Employment size

In 2024-25 the number of non-employing businesses increased by 4.3% (71,633), with a net movement of 32,428 surviving businesses from employing to non-employing.

There was also a:

2.6% (133) increase in businesses with 200+ employees to 5,322 total
0.7% (4,688) decrease in businesses with 1-4 employees to 688,870 total
0.5% (357) decrease in businesses with 20-199 employees to 67,857 total

Annual percent change in businesses by employment size range, 2024-25
	Annual percent change
Non–employing	4.9
1–4 employees	-0.7
5–19 employees	0
20–199 employees	-0.5
200+ employees	2.6

Annual percent change in businesses by employment size range, 2024-25

["","Annual percent change"]

[["Non\u2013employing","1\u20134 employees","5\u201319 employees","20\u2013199 employees","200+ employees"],[[4.9],[-0.7],[0],[-0.5],[2.6]]]

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Data downloads

Data cubes

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.

Data cube 1: Tables 1-16 of counts of Australian businesses, including entries and exits

Data files

Download xlsx [190.21 KB]

Post-release changes

23 September 2025 - Employing businesses figure in Key Statistics updated from 999,161 (2024 figure) to 994,178 (2025 figure).

Methodology

Scope

All actively trading businesses in the Australian market sector

Excluding:

Reserve Bank of Australia
General Government
Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households

Geography

Data available for:

Australia
States and Territories
Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2)
Local Government Area (LGA)

Source

Australian Bureau of Statistics Business Register (ABSBR)

Collection method

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)

Concepts, sources and methods

Classifications used to compile the data:

History of changes

The experimental quarterly series has been discontinued.

Full history of changes

View full methodology

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APA

Citation

Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits

APA

Citation

Key statistics

Discontinuation of experimental quarterly series

Entries and exits

Industry

States and territories

Institutional sector

Type of legal organisation

Employment size

Data downloads

Data cubes

Data cube 1: Tables 1-16 of counts of Australian businesses, including entries and exits

Post-release changes

Methodology

Scope

Geography

Source

Collection method

Concepts, sources and methods

History of changes

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder

Provide feedback

APA

Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits

APA

Key statistics

Discontinuation of experimental quarterly series

Entries and exits

Industry

States and territories

Institutional sector

Type of legal organisation

Employment size

Data downloads

Data cubes

Data cube 1: Tables 1-16 of counts of Australian businesses, including entries and exits

Post-release changes

Methodology

Scope

Geography

Source

Collection method

Concepts, sources and methods

History of changes

Media releases

7 facts about Australian businesses

Do you need more detailed statistics?

Request data

Microdata and TableBuilder