Insee Focus · July 2025 · n° 355

The number of high-growth enterprises increased by 38% between 2019 and 2023

In 2023, 16,700 enterprises with 10 or more employees were high-growth enterprises in France in the industry, construction, trade and services sectors, which was 38% more than in 2019. Their workforce grew by more than a third between 2020 and 2023. Some sectors, notably information and communication, had a higher proportion of high-growth enterprises.

The impact of the health crisis on employment, in turn, has disrupted the landscape of high-growth businesses, particularly in the accommodation and food and arts and entertainment sectors, which had a strong rebound in employment from 2021 onwards. High-growth enterprises in 2023 increased their number of employees by 400,000 compared with 2020; 18% of them more than doubled their workforce.