Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Business Register, Business Demography, Administrative Data Storage Units, Crafts
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11
65189 Wiesbaden
Germany
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
5 December 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
5 December 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
5 December 2024
3.1. Data description
The annual Business demography data collection covers variables which explain the characteristics and demography of the business population. The methodology allows for the production of data on enterprise births (and deaths), that is, enterprise creations (cessations) that amount to the creation (dissolution) of a combination of production factors and where no other enterprises are involved (enterprises created or closed solely as a result of e.g. restructuring, merger or break-up are not considered).
A summary of the available indicators is listed below. The data is available at EU, country and regional level, with breakdowns for type of activity, legal form and size class.
For the population of active enterprises:
Number of active enterprises;
Number of enterprise births;
Number of enterprise survivals up to five years;
Number of enterprise deaths;
Related variables on employment: 'employees' and 'persons employed' (employees and self-employed persons).
For the population of active employer enterprises:
Number of enterprises having at least one employee;
Number of enterprises having the first employee;
Number of enterprises having no employees anymore;
Number of enterprise survivals up to five years.
Related variables on employment: 'employees' and 'persons employed' (employees and self-employed persons)
For high-growth enterprises, the following indicators are available at EU and country level:
Number of high-growth enterprises (growth by 10% or more);
Number of employees of high-growth enterprises;
Number of young high-growth enterprises (up to five years old high-growth enterprises);
Number of employees of young high-growth enterprise.
3.2. Classification system
From 2008 onwards NACE Rev.2 classification (Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community) is used for all indicators.
The Regional breakdown of national business demography data at NUTS1, NUTS2 and NUTS3 level is based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS).
3.3. Coverage - sector
Starting with reference year 2021, BD data cover the economic activities of market producers within the NACE Rev. 2 Sections B to N, P to R and Divisions S95 and S96. The total economy is presented as Industry, construction and services (code BTSXO_S94).
For the reference years 2008-2020, data for the Sections P, Q, R and S were provided on a voluntary basis and K64.2 was not covered.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
To decide if a unit was active in a given period the criteria required by Regulation (employment and/or turnover) are used. There are no specific inclusions into, or exclusions from the population of active units. Birth or death dates from the business register are not used to decide if units are active.
For BD publication the statistical unit enterprise is used.
Business Register contains information on different units - enterprises, legal units and local units.
“Short-term” administrative data from the Federal Employment Agency and from the Tax Authoritiesare are available for legal units and local units.
3.6. Statistical population
The target population is the business economy, including all active enterprises which
are market producers. In the additional datasets on employer business demography, the threshold is set to one employee at any time of the reference period.
The following thresholds are used according to the methodology:
1 employee - population of employer enterprises,
10 employees in the beginning of the growth - population of high-growth enterprises (10%).
3.7. Reference area
Germany
3.8. Coverage - Time
2004-2006 legal unit, NACE 1.1
2007-2017 legal unit, NACE 2.0
2018-2020 enterprise, NACE 2.0
since 2021 enterprise, NACE 2.0 (EBS legislation)
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The number of active, birth, death and survival enterprises, as well as high-growth enterprises is expressed in units.
The number of employees is counted as head counts and is expressed in units.
The number of persons employed is the sum of number of employees and self-employed persons.
The number of self-employed persons is the average number of persons who were at some time during the reference period the sole owners or joint owners of the statistical unit in which they work, measured in annual average headcounts, expressed in units.
Derived indicators are expressed in units or percentages.
2022
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Starting with reference year 2021, two new regulations form the legal basis of BD statistics:
Before reference year 2021, EU Regulation 2008/295 on structural business statistics, Annex IX, was providing a legal basis for the BD data collection. The Commission implementing EU Regulation 2014/439 ensured data collection on employer enterprises (with at least one employee), high-growth enterprises (more than 10% annual growth over three years) and their employment.
Up to reference year 2006 data have been collected under gentlemen's agreement within the context of the development of Structural Business Statistics.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The national legislation describing the statistical confidentiality is at the basis of §16 of the Law on Statistics for Federal Purposes.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
As primary confidentiality treatment p-percent rule is adopted (p5%). Secondary confidentiality is done by software.
The software Tau argus is used. Zero is not excepted as supressing partner.
7.2.1. Confidentiality rules (primary and secondary)
Data treatment
Remarks
Confidentiality rules applied
yes
Threshold of number of enterprises (Number)
-
Number of enterprises non confidential, if number of employments is confidential
yes
Dominance criteria applied
yes
If dominance criteria is applied, specify the threshold (in %) and the method of applying the dominance rules
p5%
p-percent rule is adopted
Secondary confidentiality applied
yes
If secondary confidentiality is applied, explain the rules and the methods used
tau argus software is used
We don´t accept “0” as a suppressing-partner in general.
7.2.2. Measures taken to reduce the number of confidential cells
Remarks
Measures taken to reduce the number of confidential cells
no
If measures have been taken, describe them briefly
Impact of these measures
8.1. Release calendar
Results on business demography are not included in the release calender. Results are normally published in August. Regional results are planned for October.
Data published at the national level do not differ from the data sent and published by Eurostat.
the published information in publications and/or online data base are the only date that are availallbe for the data users. No further information is provided.
There is no difference between national published data and data sent to Eurostat. The main need ist the identification of an enterprise as birth or death.
Main users are:
Internal users:
Other departments in our institutions
Media
Researchers & students
External users:
Eurostat, OECD, international organisations
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Consultations only take place, if necessary or requested by users and more often with the statistical offices of the Länder.
12.3. Completeness
All required data are delivered.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100%
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Not requested.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
The proportion of enterprises wrongly designated active and non-active is estimated to be less than 1 %. Applying our definition of active enterprises
theses cases contain false matching within administrative data (e.g. duplicates).
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not requested.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not requested.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not requested.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
No processing errors.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not requested.
14.1. Timeliness
The administrative data will be processed in the SBR t+6 months at latest.
BD are sent to Eurostat in t+18 months - in line with the EU regulation (or even earlier for some indicators).
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not requested.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not requested.
14.2. Punctuality
Data have been delivered in time.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not requested.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not requested.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
a) First reference year available (calendar year):
2004
b) Breaks in time series and reasons for the breaks:
2004-2006 legal unit, NACE 1.1
2007-2017 legal unit, NACE 2.0
2018-2020 enterprise, NACE 2.0
since 2021 enterprise, NACE 2.0 (EBS legislation)
c) Outliers in time series:
2019: more birth and more death caused by a change of the treshold of the BR
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
2004-2006 legal unit, NACE 1.1
2007-2017 legal unit, NACE 2.0
2018-2020 enterprise, NACE 2.0
since 2021 enterprise, NACE 2.0 (EBS legislation)
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
BD can be described as largely coherent with cross-domain enterprise statistics, such as Structural business statistics (SBS). BD will further improve the coherence to SBS, continuously.
Business Register: There is coherence in general for number of enterprises, number of persons employed in Business register and BD because we use BR as population for BD. There are smaller differences for number of persons employed because of rounding methodology in theresults. Regarding the number of enterprises, BD only includes market enterpises, for BR in the Nace P-S there are also non-market enterprises.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not requested.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Not requested.
Not requested.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Preliminary death data are compiled in line with the methodology of Business Demography. Due to extended data availability death data are revised once.
No further revisions have been carried out.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Preliminary versus final data.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
1 (preliminary versus final data).
18.1. Source data
a) Type of data source
Multiple data sources are used. Main Source is SBR (local units, legal units and enterprises). In addition administrative data sources (Tax authorities; Federal employment agency) are used.
b) Coverage of SBR
All the required activities and legal forms are covered. Criteria for inclusion in SBR is at least a yearly turnover of 22.000 € and/or more than 0 employees in yearly average.
c) Matching, profiling or imputation
Matching and profiling is carried out within the SBR. No imputation is carried out for Business Demography or SBR. Birth and death of enterprises are not directly available within SBR. A complex calculation method is applied.
No significant changes to the source over the period covered by this data collection.
18.1.1. Concepts and sources
The SBR contains relevant information for BD. There are no imputations of missing data. Data on persons employed are estimated, as well as for BD as for SBR.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
The main data sources of the BR (employment and turnover) are monthly at least quarterly data.
18.3. Data collection
Data access from the administrative sources: The administrative sources submit data for processing in SBR. Theses data are used for BD.
No changes planned.
18.3.1. Data matching
a) Data matching process and tools:
The software SAS was used.
The pair-wise matching process is done by the order recommended by Eurostat.
To identify potential births and deaths, the business register identification number is used. This is carried out for enterprises and legal units. Then, to check if the
potential births and deaths of legal units are real births and deaths, the pair-wise matching process recommended by Eurostat is effected by use of short-term
administrative data from the Federal Employment Agency and the Tax Authorities. The fields used are the identification number of the Federal Employment
Agency, VAT number, name, address and NACE code. The amount of clerical checking is concentrated on important cases – especially big units. After this
checking the related information is aggregatet for the unit enterprise. A potential birth or death of an enterprise is counted as a real birth or death if all legal units
related to the enterprise are real birth/death or executes ancillary activities. Due to a high number of enterprises, an automatic procedure has been developed.
b) Matching:
No additional matching criteria used.
Matching on location is carried out on local units; for multi-site units every local unit is taken into account seperately.
Moving in or out of scope (e.g. to or from NACE Rev. 2 sections A or O) are not counted as birth and death, due to the fact, that they are part of the population. We have 1,01% units moving into scope and 0,04% units movining out of scope in 2022.
We detected approximately 1.4% reactivations.
18.3.2. Manual checks
Manual checking was carried out for large births (more than 50 employees) and deaths (more than 100 employees) and for multi-site units.
18.4. Data validation
1. Validation of format and file structure checks
The format of the data is checked.
2. Intra-dataset checks
Intra-dataset checks are done.
3. Inter-dataset checks
Inter-dataset checks are done.
4. Intra-domain, intra-source checks
Checks to the other statistics of the BR are done.
5. Plausibility or consistency checks between two domains available in the same Institution
Checks are planned, first steps are done.
6. Plausibility or consistency checks between the data available in the Institution and the data / information available outside the Institution.
No checks outside the institution.
18.5. Data compilation
Estimation of missing number if self-employed persons
The number of self-employed persons is estimated for the BD compilation as well as for the Business Register.
Estimation of preliminary deaths
Preliminary deaths are estimated based on available information within the SBR on employees and turnover of relevant enterprises for t+2.
Computation of annual average of employees and self-employed persons in active enterprises
annual average of employees in active enterprises:
The annual average of emloyees is calculated by adding up all monthly values and dividing by 12.
annual average of self-employed persons in active enterprises:
For self-emloyed persons the surcharge as described in the manual is aplied. The legal form surcharge depends on how many months the unit was active in the respective year ((surcharge * number of active months) / 12). The number of active months is determined as follows:
Activity throughout the reference year -> 12.
Interannual closing -> month of determination (e.g.: April -> 4).
Start during the year -> 12 minus the month in which the start date is, plus 1 (e.g.: May -> 8).
Determination within the reference year and start within the reference year -> end month minus start month plus 1.
If there are no employees, but only self-employed person working in enterprise, annual average is calculated as described above.
Enterprises with no any employees and self-employed are included. There are 3,7 % enterprises with no employees or self-employed persons.
The number of persons employed is approximated in the SBR on the basis of employees and the legal form of the legal unit. The numer of persons employed for the enterprise is calculated by summing up all persons employed in related legal units.
Annual average is calculated by taking headcount of employees or self-employed persons per shortest observation period (month, week, day) and dividing by number of periods in year. We always use 12 as denominator.
The number of employees or self-employed at the end of the reference year is never used as approximation for annual average.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not requested.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
The annual Business demography data collection covers variables which explain the characteristics and demography of the business population. The methodology allows for the production of data on enterprise births (and deaths), that is, enterprise creations (cessations) that amount to the creation (dissolution) of a combination of production factors and where no other enterprises are involved (enterprises created or closed solely as a result of e.g. restructuring, merger or break-up are not considered).
A summary of the available indicators is listed below. The data is available at EU, country and regional level, with breakdowns for type of activity, legal form and size class.
For the population of active enterprises:
Number of active enterprises;
Number of enterprise births;
Number of enterprise survivals up to five years;
Number of enterprise deaths;
Related variables on employment: 'employees' and 'persons employed' (employees and self-employed persons).
For the population of active employer enterprises:
Number of enterprises having at least one employee;
Number of enterprises having the first employee;
Number of enterprises having no employees anymore;
Number of enterprise survivals up to five years.
Related variables on employment: 'employees' and 'persons employed' (employees and self-employed persons)
For high-growth enterprises, the following indicators are available at EU and country level:
Number of high-growth enterprises (growth by 10% or more);
Number of employees of high-growth enterprises;
Number of young high-growth enterprises (up to five years old high-growth enterprises);
Number of employees of young high-growth enterprise.
5 December 2024
To decide if a unit was active in a given period the criteria required by Regulation (employment and/or turnover) are used. There are no specific inclusions into, or exclusions from the population of active units. Birth or death dates from the business register are not used to decide if units are active.
For BD publication the statistical unit enterprise is used.
Business Register contains information on different units - enterprises, legal units and local units.
“Short-term” administrative data from the Federal Employment Agency and from the Tax Authoritiesare are available for legal units and local units.
The target population is the business economy, including all active enterprises which
are market producers. In the additional datasets on employer business demography, the threshold is set to one employee at any time of the reference period.
The following thresholds are used according to the methodology:
1 employee - population of employer enterprises,
10 employees in the beginning of the growth - population of high-growth enterprises (10%).
Germany
2022
Not requested.
The number of active, birth, death and survival enterprises, as well as high-growth enterprises is expressed in units.
The number of employees is counted as head counts and is expressed in units.
The number of persons employed is the sum of number of employees and self-employed persons.
The number of self-employed persons is the average number of persons who were at some time during the reference period the sole owners or joint owners of the statistical unit in which they work, measured in annual average headcounts, expressed in units.
Derived indicators are expressed in units or percentages.
Estimation of missing number if self-employed persons
The number of self-employed persons is estimated for the BD compilation as well as for the Business Register.
Estimation of preliminary deaths
Preliminary deaths are estimated based on available information within the SBR on employees and turnover of relevant enterprises for t+2.
Computation of annual average of employees and self-employed persons in active enterprises
annual average of employees in active enterprises:
The annual average of emloyees is calculated by adding up all monthly values and dividing by 12.
annual average of self-employed persons in active enterprises:
For self-emloyed persons the surcharge as described in the manual is aplied. The legal form surcharge depends on how many months the unit was active in the respective year ((surcharge * number of active months) / 12). The number of active months is determined as follows:
Activity throughout the reference year -> 12.
Interannual closing -> month of determination (e.g.: April -> 4).
Start during the year -> 12 minus the month in which the start date is, plus 1 (e.g.: May -> 8).
Determination within the reference year and start within the reference year -> end month minus start month plus 1.
If there are no employees, but only self-employed person working in enterprise, annual average is calculated as described above.
Enterprises with no any employees and self-employed are included. There are 3,7 % enterprises with no employees or self-employed persons.
The number of persons employed is approximated in the SBR on the basis of employees and the legal form of the legal unit. The numer of persons employed for the enterprise is calculated by summing up all persons employed in related legal units.
Annual average is calculated by taking headcount of employees or self-employed persons per shortest observation period (month, week, day) and dividing by number of periods in year. We always use 12 as denominator.
The number of employees or self-employed at the end of the reference year is never used as approximation for annual average.
a) Type of data source
Multiple data sources are used. Main Source is SBR (local units, legal units and enterprises). In addition administrative data sources (Tax authorities; Federal employment agency) are used.
b) Coverage of SBR
All the required activities and legal forms are covered. Criteria for inclusion in SBR is at least a yearly turnover of 22.000 € and/or more than 0 employees in yearly average.
c) Matching, profiling or imputation
Matching and profiling is carried out within the SBR. No imputation is carried out for Business Demography or SBR. Birth and death of enterprises are not directly available within SBR. A complex calculation method is applied.
No significant changes to the source over the period covered by this data collection.
Annual
The administrative data will be processed in the SBR t+6 months at latest.
BD are sent to Eurostat in t+18 months - in line with the EU regulation (or even earlier for some indicators).
Not requested.
a) First reference year available (calendar year):
2004
b) Breaks in time series and reasons for the breaks:
2004-2006 legal unit, NACE 1.1
2007-2017 legal unit, NACE 2.0
2018-2020 enterprise, NACE 2.0
since 2021 enterprise, NACE 2.0 (EBS legislation)
c) Outliers in time series:
2019: more birth and more death caused by a change of the treshold of the BR
