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Business Demography statistics describe the characteristics and demography of the business population.  A number of business populations are considered for the scope of business demography.  These are the population of active enterprises, population of enterprise births, population of enterprise survivals up to five years, and population of enterprise deaths.  For each of these populations, variables on number of enterprises, number of employees, and number of persons employed are reported.  Such data is broken down by NACE, headcount groups and type of legal organisation.  Data for the Business Demography is required under European Framework Regulation (EC) No. 295/2008. 

Methodological description

Data for Business Demography is compiled from the Business Register maintained by the NSO.  Data for each population is selected from this register according to the criteria specified in the Business Register recommendation manual.  NACE Rev. 2 is used for the NACE classification.  The reported variables are expressed in units.  Business Demography data is compiled on a yearly basis.

Accuracy and reliability of data

Information on the accuracy and reliability of data can be viewed in a dedicated ESMS report available on the NSO’s metadata website.  Prior to transmission, data is also checked for consistency by means of Eurostat’s EDIT tool.

Timeliness and punctuality of data

Data for the Business Demography for reference year N is transmitted to Eurostat in two phases and is based on the concept of ‘active population of enterprises’.  The first set of series are transmitted by the end of June of year N+2 (18 months from the end of the reference year) while the second set of series are transmitted by the end of August of year N+2 (20 months from the end of the reference year), so as to satisfy the requirements of the regulation mentioned above.  The data transmitted at the end of June refers to all kinds of enterprises while the data transmitted at the end of August relates only to the employer enterprises, meaning that self- employed without employees are excluded. 

The Business Demography News Release is published on a yearly basis on the NSO’s website based on all the registered legal units, normally within 5 months after the end of the reference period.  This is published on the pre-established date as scheduled in the Advance Release Calendar which is available on the NSO’s website. 

Accessibility and clarity of data

Business Demography data can be accessed from Eurostat’s database.  An ESMS metadata report is produced every year and sent to Eurostat by the end of March of year N+3 (27 months from the end of the reference year).  The ESMS metadata report is also updated yearly and published on the NSO website.

Coherence and comparability/consistency of data

Business Demography data has been compiled as from reference year 2010.  A different methodological approach was adopted for reference year 2014.  This data is thus not comparable to that of previous reference years. However, data for reference year 2014 is comparable to that of other countries since common methodologies are used.​ 

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