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.
Federal Institution under Public Law Statistics Austria, Guglgasse 13, A-1110 Wien
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
26 November 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
26 November 2024
2.3. Metadata last update
26 November 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.
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 new European Business Statistics Regulation; 2152/2019.
In our methodology an enterprise is considered to be economically active if it has turnover and/or employed persons at any point in time between 1 January and 31 December in a reporting year, irrespective of whether the enterprise was active for the entire year or only parts thereof.
The statistical business register (SBR) is the main source to draw these "active enterprises" (as it contains information on turnover and employment). The criteria (employment and/or turnover) of the Eurostat-OECD Manual on Business Demography Statistics were applied. There is no quantitative information on performed investments available in the SBR. In addition to the information from the SBR we adopt the additional adaptations (changes of the activity status) from Structural Business Statistics (SBS); both frames for BD and SBS are now fully harmonised.
In addition to information from the SBR about birth and death dates, other administrative sources as well as changes of the activity status from the primary survey of the SBS were used to determine the demographic characteristics of the units.
For the survival data, units were excluded which were not included in the NACE coverage in the birth year due to change of NACE coverage, with K64.2 now being included. Moreover, for final death data for reference year 2020 this group was excluded as well.
With respect to the coherence with SBS, non-profit-units and units of public administration were excluded.
3.5. Statistical unit
The BD target population is based on the statistical unit "enterprise" (according to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 696/93).
The statistical unit "enterprise" can consist of several legal units, on which the processing is carried out.
Statistical enterprises are derived from the statistical business register (SBR) using manual or automatic profiling.
3.6. Statistical population
The target population includes enterprises with main market-oriented activity in NACE sections B to S (without section O and division S94) and that had either turnover or employees at any time between 1/1 and 31/12 during the reference period. 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
No region is excluded from the BD target population, nor has the regional coverage changed. Branches of foreign enterprises are included.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Total business demography and employer business demography: 2007 - 2022
High growth enterprises: 2008 - 2022
Young high growth enterprises: 2021 - 2022
With reference year 2021, the requirements of the new EBS Regulation 2019/2152 were implemented. The "statistical enterprise" (instead of the "legal unit" so far) is now the new unit of measurement.
In addition, from now on the statistical business register (SBR) of Statistics Austria serves as the main database for the annual statistics; the SBS are also based on this source as the sole database. In the SBR conceptual changes and quality-enhancing measures were made in advance in order to be able to include even more smaller enterprises in the population and to fully meet the legal requirements of the EBS Regulation for the production of business statistics based on it. The conceptual and methodological changes led to a break in time series especially in sections newly covered by the SBS (NACE sections P-R) for nearly all variables.
As from reference year 2021 the annual average should be calculated based on the whole reference year (instead of the operational period), this new calculation method also led to a break (decrease) of the number of employees and employed persons and to shifts in employee size classes.
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
Latest reference year for total business demography, employer business demography and (young) high growth enterprises: 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
According to Article 19 of the Federal Statistics Act statistics shall be published in a manner that prevents any connection being made with statements concerning specific or identifiable data subjects unless the data subject concerned has no interest warranting protection in his/her data remaining confidential. In the event such connections cannot be ruled out, publication is subject to the explicit prior written consent of the data subject involved.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The primary confidential rules are applied to employment variables for cells with less than 3 enterprises. Secondary confidential values are applied so that recalculation of primary confidential cells is prevented. Results for more than two reporting units can be suppressed to prevent recalculations from aggregates.
7.2.1. Confidentiality rules (primary and secondary)
Data treatment
Remarks
Confidentiality rules applied
Yes
Threshold of number of enterprises (Number)
less than 3
Number of enterprises non confidential, if number of employments is confidential
Yes
Dominance criteria applied
No
If dominance criteria is applied, specify the threshold (in %) and the method of applying the dominance rules
-
Secondary confidentiality applied
Yes
If secondary confidentiality is applied, explain the rules and the methods used
linear protection procedure
Secondary cell suppression was achieved using a customized version of the HITAS algorithm. The entire dataset is split into smaller tables. These tables are then protected using a linear protection procedure. The algorithm was used in a way that the number of additional suppressed cells is minimized and that all primary sensitive cells are adequately protected.
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
not applicable
8.1. Release calendar
At the same time as the data are reported to Eurostat, the national publication tables, press releases and other documentation are produced and published.
National release dates:
Total business demography 2022 (enterprise deaths preliminary): June 2024
High growth enterprises and young high growth enterprises 2022 (final): June 2024
Employer business demography 2022: August 2024
High growth enterprises and young high growth enterprises 2023 (preliminary): December 2024
Regional data are published at the national level already together with total business demography in June and employer business demography in August, whereas the Eurostat delivery deadine to deliver the data is end of October.
Moreoever, at the national level, specific tables tables on
enterprise births and deaths by turnover tax classes and
knowledge- and research-intensive enterprise births by employee size classes
are published (in August).
8.2. Release calendar access
The release calendar is accessible to everyone and can be found here: publications
8.3. Release policy - user access
Information which is not available in the published publications and/or in the published online database can be provided to everyone with a specific request (the confidentiality must be guaranteed).
Annual
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
There are regular press releases (available in German and English) linked to disseminating BD data:
End of June: Total business demography
End of August: Employer business demography
Middle/End of December: High growth enterprises and Young high growth enterprises (preliminary)
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Regular electronic publications (available in German and English) on BD data are released:
Furthermore, BD Data are regularly published in the Statistical Yearbook of Austria (chargeable), sometimes in the "Österreichischer Zahlenspiegel" and in the "STATjournal" (published every two months). These publications are available in German only.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
BD data in Austria are disseminated via online databases:
High growth enterprises and young high growth enterprises online database is updated annually in June (final data) and in December (preliminary data): data base high growth enterprises
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not requested.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Researchers can request access to micro-data of the BD data.
Statistics Austria is committed to ensuring the highest quality with respect to the compilation of statistical information. In accordance with the Federal Statistics Act (Article 24), Statistics Austria has to use statistical methods and processes in compliance with internationally recognised scientific principles and standards, conduct ongoing analyses of the statistics with a view to quality improvements and ensure that statistics are as up-to-date as possible. This commitment to quality is also specified in Statistics Austria’s mission statement. In adopting the European Statistics Code of Practice, Statistics Austria has committed to adhering to principles and standards for the production and dissemination of high-quality statistics. As part of the European Statistical System (ESS), Statistics Austria recognises the Quality Declaration of the ESS. The Statistics Council has set up a Quality Assurance Committee, a primary focus of which is the ongoing examination of potential quality improvements
Statistics Austria uses standard-documentation to provide users with information about the underlying concepts, definitions, methods used and the quality of the statistics (meta-information) in a standardised format.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
In cooperation with the Statistic Committee’s Quality Assurance Committee, feedback meetings concerning the quality of the different statistical products are held regularly within the framework of Statistics Austria’s quality management programme. In addition, internal revisions and quality audits are carried out. The content and objectives concern critical examination of different aspects with particular consideration of the methods, ressourses and processes used; identification of quality improvement potential; development of recommendations for improvement measures and improvement of the standard documentation relating to the statistics in question, with special attention to the views of users and external experts.
The last feedback meeting for BD statistics in Austria took place in November 2023; the focus was on the methodological and conceptual changes from the reporting year 2021.
In general, a high quality is attributed to BD data in Austria, and the data are included in economic policy analyses and decisions.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
At the national level, Statistic Austria publishes also data on
the gender of sole proprietors,
enterprise births and deaths by turnover tax classes and
knowledge- and research-intensive enterprise births by employee size classes and by legal forms (grouped): based on the total business demography; nationally required indicator for the evaluation of the federal government's strategy for research, technology and innovation, delineation is made according to the "High-technology and knowledge-based services aggregations" of Eurostat
These data are only nationally required and therefore not sent to Eurostat.
Internal/national users:
Other departments (regular consultations), Austrian Federal Ministries, Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Austrian Economic Chamber of Commerce, Austrian Institute for SME Research and other research Institutes, universities, press and media, enterprises, students and others
External/international:
Eurostat (European Commission), OECD, ECB etc.
Users of BD data often ask about more detailed data by additional classifications, e.g. classifications by provinces and NACE three-digit-codes.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
A survey related to the user’s satisfaction is organized by Statistics Austria for key statistical domains. However, the information derived from this survey, which was carried out for the last time in 2023, does not provide specific information for BD, because various business statistics for industry, construction, trade and services are covered in total. Nevertheless results can be used for evaluating the fulfilment of user needs in general. Users have attributed an adequate satisfaction with results; more results on regional level are desired.
12.3. Completeness
Statistics Austria's national BD data are complete.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Statistics Austria's national BD data are complete.
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
In general, the timeliness and completeness of the SBR and of the administrative data affect the quality of BD data.
Since 2021, economic activity in the reporting year is determined in the SBR. Furthermore, a precise determination of the units relevant to the market economy is carried out by the processing in the SBS survey. Together, this creates a joint database of BD and SBS.
The following problems occur:
Timelag of tax data (not yet fully available at the time of preparation of the statistics)
Adoption of incorrect activity classifications from the SBR: The correctness of activity classifications is continuously checked for units of the SBS primary survey and as part of classification notifications from Statistics Austria. In principle, however, incorrect classifications may occur, particularly in the case of new entries. It is not possible to clearly quantify incorrect classifications, as it is possible to determine the units for which activities change, but not how many of the activity changes are due to an incorrect classification or an actual change in the main activity. For instance, from a sample of 50 000 active units included in the SBR in 2021, around 3 000 changed their assignment to the NACE section.
False classifications of the Business Register for Administrative Purposes: As the entries in this register are not maintained by Statistics Austria, false classifications can also potentially occur here.
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
There were no significant processing errors.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not requested.
14.1. Timeliness
For the maintenance of the SBR which is the frame and main data source for BD Statistics (as for SBS), the following administrative sources are used:
Commercial Register: Delivers data on a daily basis.
Chamber of Commerce (membership file): Data is sent on a weekly basis.
Federation of Social Insurances: Master data is sent on a weekly basis. On a monthly basis number of persons employed are delivered, plus additional master data.
Tax register: Master data is sent to the Business Register for Administrative Purposes on a daily basis (SBR may use this data if necessary), SBR gets these data on a monthly basis. Additionally the VAT-values are delivered on a quarterly basis. Income and corporation tax data are used to be able to include even more smaller enterprises in the population (quarterly update). The time lag of the tax data is relatively high (data are less complete at the time of BD production than that of other sources)
Register of associations: Delivers master data on a yearly basis.
Chambers of liberal occupations: each of the 9 chambers delivers separately, either on a weekly or a monthly basis, some deliver only according to requirements.
National dissemination of results:
Total business demography: 18 months after the end of the reference period.
Employer business demography and knowledge and research-intensive enterprise births: 20 months after the end of the reference period.
(Young) high growth enterprises: preliminary data 12 months after the end of the reference period, final data 18 months after the end of the reference period.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not requested.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not requested.
14.2. Punctuality
All transmission deadlines to Eurostat were respected for the reference year 2022.
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):
Total business demography: 2007
Employer business demography: 2008
High growth enterprises: 2008
Young high growth enterprises: 2021
b) Breaks in time series and reasons for the breaks:
2021 (Total business demography and Employer business demography):
With reference year 2021 there was a changeover of the business demography statistics to meet the requirements of the EBS Regulation. The main methodological changes were the switch to the "statistical enterprise" as the new unit of measurement, full harmonisation with SBS, minor changes in coverage, and an adjusted method for calculating the annual average of employment according to EU requirements.
These changes have led to some time series breaks, especially for the number of active enterprises and enterprise births in NACE sections K and P-S, the number of surviving enterprises and that of employed persons and employees (see also 3.8).
2008 (Total business demography): A higher increase of the number of enterprise births was recorded in the year 2008 which is mainly due to a new legal basis for personal caretakers in NACE section Q “Human health and social work activities” (business registrations jumped up in this section).
A comparison of reference year 2021 with the previous year(s) is thus only possible to a limited extent due to the new legal requirements at European level and the related necessary methodological changes.
c) Outliers in time series:
No outliers in time series (except enterprise births in 2008, see b))
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Total business demography:
2007-2020
2021-
Employer business demography:
2008-2020
2021-
High growth enterprises:
2008-2020
2021-
Young high growth enterprises:
2021-
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
BD- SBR:
BD and SBR is quite coherent for active enterprises (except for NACE sections L, P and R). The number of persons employed differs more in NACE sections K, P, Q and R.
BD - SBS:
From reference year 2021, BD and SBS are fully coherent (same numbers for same structure levels) for all three common indicators: active enterprises, employees and self-employed, employees.
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
Since reference year 2021, the following BD revision policy is applied:
Total business demography and employer business demography: Only data on enterprise deaths and their employment are provisional for the most recent reference year (t+18). These data are revised in the following year with final data (t+24). This planned revision is in line with Eurostat.
High growth enterprises: Data are preliminary for the most recent reference year (t+12) and revised in the following year with the final data (t+18). This planned revision is also in line with Eurostat.
That means that for these variables slightly different data for the year which have been compiled earlier are produced.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Enterprise deaths are revised for the last reporting year. The reason is that the relevant administrative sources to determine the time of enterprise death are available only at a later point of time.
Furthermore, the latest available information from the SBS survey is used to update the data of annual BD statistics.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not available (indicator not yet calculated).
18.1. Source data
a) Type of data source:
For the production of BD statistics, the following data sources are used (see also 14.1. for the timeliness and content of these sources):
Main source: Statistical Business Register (SBR)
Further administrative sources:
Commercial Register
Chamber of Commerce (membership file)
Federation of Social Insurances
Tax register
Register of associations
Chambers of liberal occupations
b) Coverage of SBR (Statistical Business Register):
The SBR covers all the required activities and legal forms.
Until 2020 the turnover threshold was 10 000 € or at least one employee for the inclusion of a unit as being active in the SBR. For consistency reasons with other business statistics (SBS) the coverage of SBR was enlarged to units below the turnover threshold of 10 000 € and quality-enhancing measures were made in advance in order to be able to include even more smaller enterprises in the population (e.g. income- and corporate tax returns).
In Austria, the VAT threshold is 35 000 €.
In the course of the production process a common frame is used for SBS and BD. Identification of active enterprises is managed by an exact definition of criteria for units in the SBR to be drawn in the frame. Definition is aligned to EBS definitions. For corrections and adaptation, a concrete workflow is defined - for some units a special flagging in SBR is required. In general, corrections are carried out in SBR - based on the SBR the frames are drawn at several times - the final frame, on which the final results are based, is drawn at the end of the production process.
In addition to the information from the SBR, additional adaptations (changes of the activity status) are adopted from SBS.
c) Matching, profiling or imputation:
There is no matching or profiling within the sources carried out.
Birth and death dates are calculated in a special way: the year of birth is defined as the year in which an enterprise really started activity, measured by turnover or persons employed. The year of death was defined analogously. Business register birth and death dates are used along with other administrative sources to determine demographic characteristics of units.
18.1.1. Concepts and sources
For imputations and estimations see 18.5.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual data collection.
18.3. Data collection
Data of administrative sources is sent to SBR on a regular basis (see also 18.1).
Administrative units are linked to reporting units in the SBR; administrative data relevant for BD are extracted from SBR and/or different databases.
18.3.1. Data matching
a) Data matching process and tools:
There is no data matching. Only the existing record linkage were used.
For the processes described in b) we used matching processes.
b) Matching:
We followed the data matching process described in the manual (page 36). We followed the recommended pair-wise matching which we applied in a slightly different way.
Match 1: Comparison of economic activity and location: The difference is that if more than one match with the same location and economic activity are found, then for births/deaths with more than 20 employees manual checking was done in order to verify whether the enterprise can be considered a real enterprise birth/death. In cases that less than 20 employees are present at the time of enterprise birth/death, automatic rules are applied.
Match 2: Matching of name and location: We substituted matching of name in some cases by matching of legal unit or controlling person. In case of unincorporated legal unit, name of controlling unit and name of person are identical in Austria.
Match 3: Matching of economic activity and name: We substituted matching of name in some cases by matching of legal unit or controlling person. In case of unincorporated legal unit, name of controlling unit and name of personare identical in Austria.
When matching on location, in case of multi-site units, just the location of the head quarter is used.
Units moving in or out of scope are not counted for the active population neither for survival variables. 602 cases moved out of scope, 647 cases moved into scope. 1.476 enterprise deaths of 2020 were reactivated for 2022.
18.3.2. Manual checks
In total, 55 large births und 64 large deaths were investigated:
60% were confirmed as real enterprise births and 64% as real employer enterprise births
50% were confirmed as real enterprise deaths and 60% as real employer enterprise deaths
All births and deaths with at least 20 employees were covered by this approach. No specific type of unit to be a real birth or death was found.
If an enterprise is still active and there is no information about a death, then we assume that the enterprise survived.
18.4. Data validation
For all BD statistics plausibility checks on a micro and macro level are performed:
Key figures from the used data sources (e.g. the total employment figures for the reporting years) are checked before use. Prevailing trends in the source data are analysed and inconsistencies (e.g. a very high increase in employees in a certain economic sector) are examined in more detail.
Turnover and employment data taken from the SBR or the SBS survey are compared with the raw administrative data. Deviations are analysed and reported back if necessary.
Newly founded or closed enterprises with at least 20 employees are checked manually in their entirety (see also 18.3.2). The examination is carried out at legal unit level. If indications of false births or deaths are found (e.g. in the Commercial register or on the company's homepage), the enterprise is flagged and does not appear as real birth/death in the final dataset.
It is examined whether the trends found are reflected in the results. In the event of breaks in time series or differences in levels, reasons are sought and corrections made or explanations provided where necessary. If there are some questionable developments on macro level, the micro level is checked again.
Systematic plausibility checks of the results are carried out on the one hand on the basis of the plausibility rules defined by Eurostat and on the other hand according to additional plausibility checks resulting from national requirements:
In order to check the plausibility of the data at national level, the newly compiled time series is compared with the time series from the previous reporting year according to different dimensions and levels of detail. In addition, enterprise birth figures are compared with the latest data from the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. Furthermore, the consistency with internal statistics, in particular SBS and documentation of sector-specific developments, is checked.
The validation and consistency check rules established by Eurostat are carried out before the data are delivered to Eurostat.
If inconsistencies occur, reasons are investigated and, if necessary, corrections are made in the database.
18.5. Data compilation
Estimations and imputations:
Estimation of missing number of self-employed persons
The number of self-employed persons is taken from the Federation of Social Insurances for the Self-employed and from the Chambers of liberal occupations and included in the SBR or - if not available - estimated on the basis of the legal form of the unit. All values are available in the SBR.
Estimation of preliminary deaths
If an enterprise is only active on the basis of annual tax values in the reporting year (no advance VAT return, no employees), there are usually no turnover values beyond the reporting year at the time of preparation. Therefore, such enterprises do not count as closed unless other indicators suggest a termination (e.g. termination in the Commercial register, the basic tax data or the membership file of the Chamber of Commerce in the reporting year).
Computation of annual average of employees and self-employed persons in active enterprises
From 2021, for the computation of the annual average of employees and self-employed persons the number is divided by 12 months (instead of by the number of months with actual employment, the “operational period” as before). For births and deaths annual average is calculated in the same way.
If there are no employees, but only self-employed person working in enterprise, the annual average for the self-employed, the same calculation method is applied.
Enterprises with no employed persons at all are included as well – they count for 2,7% of all active enterprises.
Example: If a small enterprise with one person employed works for less than 6 months, the annual average of self-employment is 0.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not requested.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
As the “statistical enterprise” and its characteristics are not yet completely stable over time in our SBR database, some minor inconsistencies in survival data occurred.
From reference year 2022 on, an improved method to delineate surviving enterprises was found and applied.
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
26 November 2024
BD constitutes an important and integrated part of the new European Business Statistics Regulation; 2152/2019.
In our methodology an enterprise is considered to be economically active if it has turnover and/or employed persons at any point in time between 1 January and 31 December in a reporting year, irrespective of whether the enterprise was active for the entire year or only parts thereof.
The statistical business register (SBR) is the main source to draw these "active enterprises" (as it contains information on turnover and employment). The criteria (employment and/or turnover) of the Eurostat-OECD Manual on Business Demography Statistics were applied. There is no quantitative information on performed investments available in the SBR. In addition to the information from the SBR we adopt the additional adaptations (changes of the activity status) from Structural Business Statistics (SBS); both frames for BD and SBS are now fully harmonised.
In addition to information from the SBR about birth and death dates, other administrative sources as well as changes of the activity status from the primary survey of the SBS were used to determine the demographic characteristics of the units.
For the survival data, units were excluded which were not included in the NACE coverage in the birth year due to change of NACE coverage, with K64.2 now being included. Moreover, for final death data for reference year 2020 this group was excluded as well.
With respect to the coherence with SBS, non-profit-units and units of public administration were excluded.
The BD target population is based on the statistical unit "enterprise" (according to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 696/93).
The statistical unit "enterprise" can consist of several legal units, on which the processing is carried out.
Statistical enterprises are derived from the statistical business register (SBR) using manual or automatic profiling.
The target population includes enterprises with main market-oriented activity in NACE sections B to S (without section O and division S94) and that had either turnover or employees at any time between 1/1 and 31/12 during the reference period. 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%)
No region is excluded from the BD target population, nor has the regional coverage changed. Branches of foreign enterprises are included.
Latest reference year for total business demography, employer business demography and (young) high growth enterprises: 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
Estimations and imputations:
Estimation of missing number of self-employed persons
The number of self-employed persons is taken from the Federation of Social Insurances for the Self-employed and from the Chambers of liberal occupations and included in the SBR or - if not available - estimated on the basis of the legal form of the unit. All values are available in the SBR.
Estimation of preliminary deaths
If an enterprise is only active on the basis of annual tax values in the reporting year (no advance VAT return, no employees), there are usually no turnover values beyond the reporting year at the time of preparation. Therefore, such enterprises do not count as closed unless other indicators suggest a termination (e.g. termination in the Commercial register, the basic tax data or the membership file of the Chamber of Commerce in the reporting year).
Computation of annual average of employees and self-employed persons in active enterprises
From 2021, for the computation of the annual average of employees and self-employed persons the number is divided by 12 months (instead of by the number of months with actual employment, the “operational period” as before). For births and deaths annual average is calculated in the same way.
If there are no employees, but only self-employed person working in enterprise, the annual average for the self-employed, the same calculation method is applied.
Enterprises with no employed persons at all are included as well – they count for 2,7% of all active enterprises.
Example: If a small enterprise with one person employed works for less than 6 months, the annual average of self-employment is 0.
a) Type of data source:
For the production of BD statistics, the following data sources are used (see also 14.1. for the timeliness and content of these sources):
Main source: Statistical Business Register (SBR)
Further administrative sources:
Commercial Register
Chamber of Commerce (membership file)
Federation of Social Insurances
Tax register
Register of associations
Chambers of liberal occupations
b) Coverage of SBR (Statistical Business Register):
The SBR covers all the required activities and legal forms.
Until 2020 the turnover threshold was 10 000 € or at least one employee for the inclusion of a unit as being active in the SBR. For consistency reasons with other business statistics (SBS) the coverage of SBR was enlarged to units below the turnover threshold of 10 000 € and quality-enhancing measures were made in advance in order to be able to include even more smaller enterprises in the population (e.g. income- and corporate tax returns).
In Austria, the VAT threshold is 35 000 €.
In the course of the production process a common frame is used for SBS and BD. Identification of active enterprises is managed by an exact definition of criteria for units in the SBR to be drawn in the frame. Definition is aligned to EBS definitions. For corrections and adaptation, a concrete workflow is defined - for some units a special flagging in SBR is required. In general, corrections are carried out in SBR - based on the SBR the frames are drawn at several times - the final frame, on which the final results are based, is drawn at the end of the production process.
In addition to the information from the SBR, additional adaptations (changes of the activity status) are adopted from SBS.
c) Matching, profiling or imputation:
There is no matching or profiling within the sources carried out.
Birth and death dates are calculated in a special way: the year of birth is defined as the year in which an enterprise really started activity, measured by turnover or persons employed. The year of death was defined analogously. Business register birth and death dates are used along with other administrative sources to determine demographic characteristics of units.
Annual
For the maintenance of the SBR which is the frame and main data source for BD Statistics (as for SBS), the following administrative sources are used:
Commercial Register: Delivers data on a daily basis.
Chamber of Commerce (membership file): Data is sent on a weekly basis.
Federation of Social Insurances: Master data is sent on a weekly basis. On a monthly basis number of persons employed are delivered, plus additional master data.
Tax register: Master data is sent to the Business Register for Administrative Purposes on a daily basis (SBR may use this data if necessary), SBR gets these data on a monthly basis. Additionally the VAT-values are delivered on a quarterly basis. Income and corporation tax data are used to be able to include even more smaller enterprises in the population (quarterly update). The time lag of the tax data is relatively high (data are less complete at the time of BD production than that of other sources)
Register of associations: Delivers master data on a yearly basis.
Chambers of liberal occupations: each of the 9 chambers delivers separately, either on a weekly or a monthly basis, some deliver only according to requirements.
National dissemination of results:
Total business demography: 18 months after the end of the reference period.
Employer business demography and knowledge and research-intensive enterprise births: 20 months after the end of the reference period.
(Young) high growth enterprises: preliminary data 12 months after the end of the reference period, final data 18 months after the end of the reference period.
Not requested.
a) First reference year available (calendar year):
Total business demography: 2007
Employer business demography: 2008
High growth enterprises: 2008
Young high growth enterprises: 2021
b) Breaks in time series and reasons for the breaks:
2021 (Total business demography and Employer business demography):
With reference year 2021 there was a changeover of the business demography statistics to meet the requirements of the EBS Regulation. The main methodological changes were the switch to the "statistical enterprise" as the new unit of measurement, full harmonisation with SBS, minor changes in coverage, and an adjusted method for calculating the annual average of employment according to EU requirements.
These changes have led to some time series breaks, especially for the number of active enterprises and enterprise births in NACE sections K and P-S, the number of surviving enterprises and that of employed persons and employees (see also 3.8).
2008 (Total business demography): A higher increase of the number of enterprise births was recorded in the year 2008 which is mainly due to a new legal basis for personal caretakers in NACE section Q “Human health and social work activities” (business registrations jumped up in this section).
A comparison of reference year 2021 with the previous year(s) is thus only possible to a limited extent due to the new legal requirements at European level and the related necessary methodological changes.
c) Outliers in time series:
No outliers in time series (except enterprise births in 2008, see b))
