Insee Première · April 2025 · n° 2045

Between 2014 and 2022, a 42% increase in the number of economically active enterprises

In 2022, 5.5 million enterprises were economically active in industry, construction, trade and services. Their number increased by 42% between 2014 and 2022, with stronger growth from 2018 onwards. This increase can be explained by economic births rising faster than economic deaths: the rate of economic births rose from 12% in 2015 to 16% in 2021, while the rate of economic deaths remained close to 8% between 2014 and 2020. The overall increase was driven by the explosion in the number of economically active micro-entrepreneurs, which rose by 148% between 2014 and 2022, representing from 19% to 32% of all enterprises. The number of economically active enterprises increased the most in transportation and storage, and the least in real estate activities and accommodation and food service activities. A quarter of economically active companies were headquartered in Île-de-France region. In 2021, 54% of companies active at the end of the year had at least one employee, and 11% had at least ten.