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.
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 NUTS classification is updated every three years, though these revisions do not always affect every country. Business demography data are classified according to the NUTS version in force at the time of regional data transmission. From January 2023, all regional data were transmitted and published under NUTS 2021 (applying to reference year 2021 or earlier, if submitted at that time - e.g., for final enterprise death).
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
BD constitutes an important and integrated part of the EU Regulation 2019/2152 on European Business Statistics (EBS Regulation).
Information on units from Statistical Business Register is matched with data from the VAT register, the Social Insurance Institution and from annual and short-term surveys of enterprises. When unit is found in these sources and shows turnover or employment, it is considered as active.
3.5. Statistical unit
Enterprise, which may consist of one or more legal units, was used.
3.6. Statistical population
The target population is the private sector economy, including all active enterprises. 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:
1 employee - population of employer enterprises,
10 employees in the beginning of the growth - population of high-growth enterprises (10%)
3.7. Reference area
Not applicable
3.8. Coverage - Time
2021-2023
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
2023
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
Act of 29 June 1995 on official statistics
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Not available
7.2.1. Confidentiality rules (primary and secondary)
Data treatment
Remarks
Confidentiality rules applied
yes
no remarks
Threshold of number of enterprises (Number)
3
no remarks
Number of enterprises non confidential, if number of employments is confidential
yes
no remarks
Dominance criteria applied
yes
no remarks
If dominance criteria is applied, specify the threshold (in %) and the method of applying the dominance rules
An aggregate is confidential if share of one dominant unit exceeds 75%. Number of persons employed in the population is used for counting dominance in aggregates.
no remarks
Secondary confidentiality applied
yes
no remarks
If secondary confidentiality is applied, explain the rules and the methods used
t-Argus tool is used method HyperCube.
no remarks
7.2.2. Measures taken to reduce the number of confidential cells
Remarks
Measures taken to reduce the number of confidential cells
yes
no remarks
If measures have been taken, describe them briefly
NSI provides information which is not available in the published publications and in the published online databases to everyone with a specific request.
Annual.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
No.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
In June in year T+2 for the reference year T for annual data.
Additional information can be found in publication "Methodological report non-financial enterprises surveys" for relevant year.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
[Not requested]
10.7. Quality management - documentation
[Not requested]
11.1. Quality assurance
The principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice are applied.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Overall quality is assessed as high.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
When establishing the Annual Statistical Research Plan, the information needs of users are consulted.
Business demography data published at national level is different from the data sent to Eurostat.
At national level the calculations were made assuming that the enterprise corresponds to one legal unit, which allowed to obtain results consistent with the secondary survey of entrepreneurship developed on the basis of the annual statistical survey results.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
The views and opinions of the users are collected when creating the Annual Statistical Research Plan. Users do not raise any objections regarding Business Demography data.
12.3. Completeness
All statistics are available on time.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
All statistics are available on time.
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
1-3%
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
During the data processing, various sources are combined based on the Tax Identification Number. There is a little amount of enterprises which don’t have this number in Statistical Business Register or for some reasons the number is wrong, however overall quality of matching procedures is assessed as high.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
[Not requested]
14.1. Timeliness
Administrative sources from the VAT register and the Social Insurance Institution are delivered on time and allow to precise determination of the activity status of entities.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
[Not requested]
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
[Not requested]
14.2. Punctuality
Data were sent on 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:
Until 2017, it was assumed that an enterprise was equal to one legal unit. Starting with reference year 2018, the statistical unit enterprise was used.
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.
c) Outliers in time series:
No outliers.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
2020-2024
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Very high compliance was achieved between BD and SBS for the variables Number of active enterprises, number of employees and self-employed, number of employees. there is a slight inconsistency between BD and the Business Registry, because for BD purposes the data from the Registry is additionally corrected based on additional administrative sources.
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
There were no revisions.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The difference between preliminary and final data on enterprise deaths is due to the different moments of verification of the liquidation of enterprises (1 year for the final data and 0 years for preliminary data).
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
There were no revisions.
18.1. Source data
a) Type of data source:
Main source: Statistical Business Register.
Additional sources: administrative data from VAT register, the Social Insurance Institution and survey data.
b) Coverage of SBR (Statistical Business Register):
The coverage in terms of classification is full - all NACE sections and in terms of legal form - all legal forms without individual farms (farm households).
c) Matching, profiling or imputation:
No available.
18.1.1. Concepts and sources
There weren’t any significant changes.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Business demography variables are compiled from the national statistical business register.
18.3.1. Data matching
a) Data matching process and tools:
Exact Matching – linking records from Statistical Business Register and administrative data on VAT and the Social Insurance Institution using one identifier of units. MS SQL Server 2008 tool is used.
b) Matching:
It is possible to identify majority of creations and cessations by mergers, break-ups, split-offs, legal form changes using information additional to Statistical Business Register (details on the way of cessation or creation of unit) and also information from statistical survey of units with more than 9 persons employed. For matching there is using Statistical Identification Number and Tax Identification Number.
Units moving in and out of scope were treated according to methodology presented in Eurostat-OECD Manual on Business Demography Statistics. There were 332 units moving in the extended scope of B-S sections and 215 units moving out of the extended B-S sections scope.
For deaths in 2021 there were 41423 (14,2%), for deaths 2022 not yet available. For births in 2023: 38867 (13,0%).
18.3.2. Manual checks
Below 90 large deaths and births were manually investigated.
This approached covered all the births and deaths with 20 or more employees was applied threshold for enterprises with more than 100 employees for deaths and births.
This approached did not cover the enterprises with large turnover, but no employees.
There were manually checked large deaths and births to find additional events such as mergers, takes over and other acquisitions. About 20-30% of large deaths and births must have been removed.
Majority of them were limited liability companies.
18.4. Data validation
Before sending to Eurostat, the following checks are performed: hierarchical, inter-variable plausibility, confidential and completeness.
18.5. Data compilation
The data is prepared of a full survey based on the Statistical Business Register, which is corrected by administrative sources: the Social Insurance Institution, VAT register.
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
29 December 2025
BD constitutes an important and integrated part of the EU Regulation 2019/2152 on European Business Statistics (EBS Regulation).
Information on units from Statistical Business Register is matched with data from the VAT register, the Social Insurance Institution and from annual and short-term surveys of enterprises. When unit is found in these sources and shows turnover or employment, it is considered as active.
Enterprise, which may consist of one or more legal units, was used.
The target population is the private sector economy, including all active enterprises. 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:
1 employee - population of employer enterprises,
10 employees in the beginning of the growth - population of high-growth enterprises (10%)
Not applicable
2023
[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
The data is prepared of a full survey based on the Statistical Business Register, which is corrected by administrative sources: the Social Insurance Institution, VAT register.
a) Type of data source:
Main source: Statistical Business Register.
Additional sources: administrative data from VAT register, the Social Insurance Institution and survey data.
b) Coverage of SBR (Statistical Business Register):
The coverage in terms of classification is full - all NACE sections and in terms of legal form - all legal forms without individual farms (farm households).
c) Matching, profiling or imputation:
No available.
Annual.
Administrative sources from the VAT register and the Social Insurance Institution are delivered on time and allow to precise determination of the activity status of entities.
[Not requested]
a) First reference year available (calendar year):
2004
b) Breaks in time series and reasons for the breaks:
Until 2017, it was assumed that an enterprise was equal to one legal unit. Starting with reference year 2018, the statistical unit enterprise was used.
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.
