According to the data of the State Statistical Office, the number of active business entities in the Republic of North Macedonia in 2019 was 75 914 and compared to 2018 it increased by 5.0%. The number of active business entities increased the most in Arts, entertainment and recreation (24.9% or 349 entities), Other service activities (24.4% or 1170 entities) and in Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (20.4% or 38 entities). In 2019, compared to the previous year, the section Human health and social work activities recorded a decrease of 3.5% in the number of business entities.
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 2019 were Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles with 30.5% and Manufacturing with 11.0%, 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%), Mining and quarrying (0.3%), and Public administration and defence; compulsory social security (0.3%).
The data on the structure of active business entities according to the number of persons employed show that the highest share of 80.7% 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 10.0%, and entities with 10-19 persons employed with 4.2%. The share of entities with 20-49 persons employed was 2.9%, those with 50-249 persons employed participated with 1.8%, while entities with 250 or more persons employed had a share of only 0.3%.