Number of businesses continues to increase

At February 2008, provisionally there were 471,000 businesses operating in New Zealand, Statistics New Zealand said today. This number is 1.5 percent higher compared with the number of businesses operating at February 2007, with rental, hiring and real estate services continuing to provide the largest proportion (20 percent). Fifty-six thousand businesses started operation in the February 2008 year, representing 12 percent of the total number of businesses in New Zealand.

The number of business locations increased in all regional council areas in February 2008 compared with February 2007. Three-quarters of New Zealand businesses were located in the North Island, with 31 percent in the Auckland region.

Ninety-seven percent of businesses in New Zealand had fewer than 20 employees, but in total this group accounted for less than a third of all employees.

Analysis of the survival of business start-ups shows that of the 62,000 new businesses in the February 2007 year, 83 percent were still operating the following year. A similar ratio appears for surviving new businesses (that continue operation for at least one year) each year from 2001 to 2007.

Of the 43,000 new businesses that first started operation in 2001, 67 percent were still operating in 2003, 45 percent in 2006, and 37 percent were still operating in 2008. New businesses with paid employees had a higher chance of surviving this period (53 percent for those with one to five employees) than businesses with no employees (33 percent).

This is the first publication of business demography statistics using the 2006 version of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC). Previously, the 1996 version of the ANZSIC classification was used. Business demography statistics are available in this release on both the 1996 and 2006 versions of ANZSIC.