In Spain more companies were founded than closed in 2024. The National Statistics Institute counted 334,789 start-ups and 269,592 Company closures. This resulted in a positive balance of 65,197 companies, as the authority announced on 13 November 2026. The figures for closures are provisional.
Overall, the Instituto Nacional de Estadística recorded around 3.55 million economically active companies in 2024. These include both entities that operated throughout the year and those that were economically active for only part of it. The figure therefore does not represent the number of companies at a single point in time.
Start-ups accounted for 9.4 per cent of companies active during the year, and closures for 7.6 per cent. The statistics office calculated a net rate of 1.8 per cent. However, start-ups and closures do not fully explain changes in the number of companies. Changes in the scope of coverage, relocations and restructuring can also affect the total.
There were marked differences between economic sectors. In services excluding trade, start-ups outnumbered closures by 59,199; the net rate was 2.6 per cent. In the Construction the rate was 2.1 per cent. In trade and industry, by contrast, closures outnumbered start-ups. The net rates there were minus 0.4 and minus 0.2 per cent respectively.
A large share of the activity involved companies without employees. They accounted for 77.5 per cent of start-ups and 71.1 per cent of closures. This size category had a positive net rate of 3.5 per cent. Among companies with one to four employees, the rate was slightly negative at minus 0.2 per cent.
The statistics also include data on the survival of previous start-ups. Five years later, 42.4 per cent of the companies founded in 2019 were still active. This rate relates to a specific founding cohort and does not explain why the remaining companies ceased operating.
Regionally, start-up rates were highest in Melilla at 11.3 per cent, in Region Valencia at 10.9 per cent and in the Balearic Islands at 10.8 per cent. The lowest figures were recorded by the Basque Country as well as Castile and León at 7.1 per cent each. Companies were classified according to their registered office.
Closure figures are finalised only after two years. Companies that resume operations during this period are excluded. For 2024, the provisional figures are based, among other things, on whether a resumption of operations was recorded in 2025.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).