According to the preliminary data of the State Statistical Office, the number of active business entities in the Republic of North Macedonia in 2021 was 72 922 and compared to 2020 it decreased by 0.2%. The number of active business entities decreased the most in Arts, entertainment and recreation by 2.6%, while the largest increase in 2021, compared to the previous year, was observed in the section Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply by 13.6%.
The data on the structure of active business entities by sections of activities show that the sections with the highest share in the structure in 2021 were Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles with 30.0% and Manufacturing with 10.9%, whereas the least represented were the sections Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (0.3%), Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (0.3%) and Mining and quarrying (0.3%).
The data on the structure of active business entities according to the number of persons employed show that the highest share of 82.0% belongs to business entities with 1-9 persons employed, followed by business entities with no persons employed or entities with unascertained number of persons employed (no data on persons employed) with 8.2%, and entities with 10-19 persons employed with 4.5%. The share of entities with 20-49 persons employed was 3.0%, those with 50-249 persons employed participated with 2.0%, while entities with 250 or more persons employed had a share of only 0.3%.
As a result of the process of harmonisation of the variables in the Statistical Business Register with the Regulation on Business Statistics (EBS Reg. 2152/2019), two news releases will be published for 2021. This news release has been prepared based on the obtained preliminary data, while the final data will be published in the second news release (at the beginning of 2023).