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.
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
Active enterprise - a market producer enterprise that had either turnover or employment at any time during a given reference period.
BD constitutes an important and integrated part of the EU Regulation 2019/2152 on European Business Statistics (EBS Regulation).
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:
greater than 0 employee (annual average) - population of employer enterprises,
10 employees in the beginning of the growth - population of high-growth enterprises (10%).
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.
3.7. Reference area
Territory of Hungary, the whole national area is covered.
The branches of foreign enterprises are included in the population, which are registered in the territory of Hungary and do not constitute a separate legal entity and are dependent on the resident legal unit.
3.8. Coverage - Time
1999 - 2019
2020 - 2022
The statistical unit enterprise was adopted in reference year 2020.
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
2021.
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
At European level:
Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics concerning business demography statistics. Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics concerning business demography statistics. (General Implementing Act) All relevant regulations can be found in the BD section on Eurostat’s website under Data => Statistical themes => Business Demography => Legislation
Act CXII of 2011 on Informational self-administration and freedom of information.
Additional information in English can be found on this website.
The confidentiality policy of HCSO is available on its website.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
HCSO ensures confidentiality for all the data reported by data providers and the exclusive use of the data for statistical purposes. We disseminate only aggregated data in full compliance with the rules of confidentiality. Individual data, as well as aggregated data consisting of fewer than 3 enterprises are regarded as confidential and therefore not published. Researchers have access to de-identified data sets and to anonymised micro data for scientific purposes with appropriate legal and methodological guaranties in place. As for the employees, they can work with datasets in their competence with registered and controlled access rights. For details see Information on confidentiality for data providers on the website of HCSO.
Rules applied for de-identifying the confidential data in BD:
primary confidentiality (A cell is flagged as confidential if less than three units ('too few units') contribute to the total of that cell)
secondary confidentiality (Treating a non-confidential cell as confidential in order to prevent disclosure of a confidential cell)
7.2.1. Confidentiality rules (primary and secondary)
Data treatment
Remarks
Confidentiality rules applied
yes
Threshold of number of enterprises (Number)
2
Number of enterprises non confidential, if number of employments is confidential
no
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
If within the aggregate 1 record is confidential we choose plus 1 another record to be confidential. We use a self developed Oracle PL\SQL program. As a basic rule, the program first checks the primary confidential cells and choose one other cell which value is the second lowest in the aggregation and this will be the secondary confidential data.
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
All of the features of dissemination activity are consistent with the Dissemination and Communication Policy of Hungarian Central Statistical Office. In the elaboration of this document the
(Since the last update of Dissemination Policy of HCSO a new statistical law has been adopted in Hungary and the European Statistical law has been amended, but the changes do not affect the principals of Dissemination Policy.)HCSO has a public Dissemination calendar that contains the dissemination dates of all First releases. The public dissemination calendar (Catalogue) on the website of HCSO provided information not only the first releases but the analyses, methodological publications, promotional publications, reports, statistical reflections, yearbooks and pocketbooks. Both calendars are prepared in line with the annual dissemination programme.
Employer Business Demography data is published only by Eurostat, it is not disseminated nationally.
NACE Rev 2.0. Section A is included in the national publication of Business Demography.
8.2. Release calendar access
A public dissemination calendar of the first releases is accessible and it can be downloaded in Excel format by everyone via the website of HCSO. It provides information about publish date, the date of any modification, the title of publication, the reference period or date and the date of inclusion in the database.
8.3. Release policy - user access
The data in first releases, in dissemination database and in other tables are open for everyone after the publication.
Annual.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not available.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Electronic publication of business demography data is available here.
In HCSO the following four data access channels are available only for researchers for scientific purposes. The HCSO performs a researcher accreditation procedure for all data requests for these four data access channels.
The HCSO offers access to deidentified microdata sets for scientific purposes in the safe environment of the Safe Centre operated by the HCSO in Budapest.
The HCSO offers access to deidentified microdata sets for scientific purposes in the safe environment of the remote access points operated by the HCSO under the same access conditions as the Safe Centre access.
For scientific purposes, the HCSO produces the requested research outputs inside its own safe environment based on the specifications/syntax files provided by the researcher.
By using this data access channel, the HCSO provides anonymised microdata sets for the researcher for scientific purposes.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Business Demography data (absolute values) are transmitted to Eurostat within T+12 months (preliminary high-growth enterpises) and T+18 (total business demography data) months after the reference period. The transmission is done by eDAMIS using the SDMX format.
The HCSO Quality Policy lays out the principles and commitments related to the quality of statistics. The documentis consistent with the goals set out in the Mission and Vision statements andwith the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice and is publicly available on the HCSO website.
Quality Guidelines are meant to ensure the quality of the statistical processes. The document has been in place since 2007 (1st revision in 2009, 2nd revision in 2014 and 3rd revision is currently ongoing). The latest version (2014) is available on the HCSO website.
Procedures are in place in order to ensure updated documentation on product quality. (See above about Quality Documentation in 10.7) Apart from the internal reports, quality reports are regularly provided to Eurostat as well.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics concerning short term statistics. The General Implementing Act prescribes the scope, the level of detail the deadlines and also the implementation of definitions of variables. The processing of data production has been developed according to these regulations.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The concepts and methods are based on European legislation. The main international user is Eurostat. The principal domestic users are the National Central Bank of Hungary and Ministries. The relevant internal users are the National Accounts department and the Business statistics department. External users are researchers, press and citizens.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
User satisfaction data are not collected.
12.3. Completeness
The level of detail is in accordance with the EBS (European business statistics) regulation.
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 marked active and non-active is virtually zero. If the enterprise did not send the tax return for the reference year, it was designated as non-active.
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 occured during the data compilation.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not requested.
14.1. Timeliness
The Hungarian Business Register is up-to-date. There is an automated on-line data transferring system with the other national administrative bodies – this is the so called “Single Window System”. Therefore the codes held in BR (main activity, legal form) reflect to the state of the end of the reference period.
The first release of the data at national level is at T+11 months (preliminary number of active enterprises), the second release is at T+18 months (final number of active enterprises).
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not requested.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not requested.
14.2. Punctuality
The data provision for Eurostat is punctual, no delays occured.
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
First reference year available (calendar year): 1999
Breaks in time series and reasons for the breaks:
2008 - implementation of NACE Rev 2.0
2020 - implementation of the statistical unit enterprise as previously the legal unit was used
2021 - The scope of the observed population expanded
The first break in 2008 is due to the change in the NACE classification, the second break is caused by the implementation of the statistical unit enterprise in 2020. In 2021 the scope of the observed population expanded which causes another break.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Business Demography indicators are fully consistent with the common SBS indicators such as:
Number of active enterprises (210101).
Number of employees and self employed persons (220101)
Number of employees. (220102)
Also fully consistent with the Business Register in number of enterprises and number of persons employed indicators.
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
Planned revision:
The number of enterprise deaths (210202) are estimated in year t as in Hungary according to the Business Demography methodology preliminary data on enterprise deaths is available only in the t+21 month. Therefore estimated data was provided using administrative data in the Business Register. As a result the estimated data at aggregate level of all enterprises at the level of NACE sections breakdown approximated the preliminary ldata ater provided, at the 2 to 4 digit NACE breakdown there are notable differences. Only the enterprise death data has a planned revision policy.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The estimated enterprise death data is revised at t+30 months as preliminary enterprise deaths (the enterprise is inactive for one year), and the final data is available at t+42 as final enterprise deaths (the enterprise is inactive for two years).
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
The reason for revision of enterprise deaths is that in year t the population of inactive enterprises in t+1 and t+2 can only be estimated, and as the administrative data arrives, the estimated data can be replaced with the prelimiary, and then with the final data.
18.1. Source data
Type of data source: the data is fully based on SBS microdata, which uses administrative data (tax data, financial statements etc.) and surveys.
Coverage of SBR (Statistical Business Register): The SBR has full coverage, it contains every resident legal unit of Hungary regardless of legal form, activity, employment and turnover, no thresholds applied.
Matching, profiling or imputation: Matching is performed between different reference years' population in order to determine the births and deaths of enterprises. The birth and death dates of enterprises are not available.
18.1.1. Concepts and sources
There are no imputation and estimation of missing SBR data.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual data collection.
18.3. Data collection
The data collection of administrative data is an extraction from a database, the National Customs and Tax Administration provides HCSO the tax returns, and as well as the Ministry of Justice the annual reports. The data from the SBR is also a data extraction, the administrative sources send the data for the SBR in a daily basis.
18.3.1. Data matching
Data matching process and tools:
The names, addresses and the main activities of the enterprises were matched by a C++ application. From the name of the units the description of the enterprise were omitted and after that, the first part of the names were compared. In case of the addresses the zip code and street number were required to be fully equal. Two names or addresses were considered to be the same, if the Levensthein distance is less than 10%. If the result of matching found more than one legal predecessor or successor for certain units, these units are not counted neither in the real death or real birth. Enterprises with more than 50 employees are investigated manually.
Matching: Multi-site units were treated as one-site units, the algorithm used the address of its main location (headquarters) found in the SBR.
Total 3573 units moved in scope in 2022 from 2021 (it was previously in NACE section A), and 332 units moved out of scope (it moved to NACE section A). These units are not treated as neither newly born nor dead enterprises.
4010 reactivations were discovered, when matching the birth population in year 2022 with death populations in years 2001-2021
18.3.2. Manual checks
The large units with authentic information on legal predecessors and successors were not investigated, the authentic information was accepted. We totally accepted the authentic information in 91 cases. Further 335 cases were investigated manually. (241 births, 94 deaths).
The highest share of real large births we discovered is at partnerships (0,9% of active units) according to legal form. According to activity the highest share was Social work at activities without accomodation ((Q88 30%).
The highest share of the real large deaths we discovered is at partnerships (1.5%). According to activity the highest share in large deaths was at Security and investigation activities ((N80) 6.77%).
We controlled the number of persons employed data of the enterprises with at least 20 persons employed either before or after the change; if the change was greater than a factor of 3. We investigated all inputs used to the SBR to verify the number of persons employed data; 245 enterprises were controlled. The number of persons employed data was corrected in 17 cases.
18.4. Data validation
The following checks are performed before transmission to Eurostat:
Format and file structure checks: General file consistency checks performed such as there are no missing data values, and if it is compliant with the defined EBS data structure.
Inter-dataset checks: The common variables of BD and SBS are compared within the same reference years in microdata level, the common variables (number of active enterprises, employment data) have to be identical in the two domains.
Intra-domain checks: Variables within BD are compared to each other in order to avoid logical errors (e.g. number of newly born enterprises in t cannot be greater than the number of active enterprises in t etc.), as well as business demography and employer business demography variables are also compared to each other on aggregate level.
18.5. Data compilation
The preliminary deaths are estimated for year t by calculating the average of enterprise daeth date of t-1 and t-2 at aggregate level.
2.5% of all active enterprises do not have any employess and self-employed persons in the reference year.
The annual average of employees and self employed persons is calculated by the average monthly employment data provided by the Tax Authority (distributions on contributions data).
Annual average is calculated for the number of employees and self-employed, it is not calculated for operational period.
If there is no employment data the number of self-employed is not estimated.
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
19 December 2024
Active enterprise - a market producer enterprise that had either turnover or employment at any time during a given reference period.
BD constitutes an important and integrated part of the EU Regulation 2019/2152 on European Business Statistics (EBS Regulation).
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:
greater than 0 employee (annual average) - population of employer enterprises,
10 employees in the beginning of the growth - population of high-growth enterprises (10%).
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.
Territory of Hungary, the whole national area is covered.
The branches of foreign enterprises are included in the population, which are registered in the territory of Hungary and do not constitute a separate legal entity and are dependent on the resident legal unit.
2021.
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 preliminary deaths are estimated for year t by calculating the average of enterprise daeth date of t-1 and t-2 at aggregate level.
2.5% of all active enterprises do not have any employess and self-employed persons in the reference year.
The annual average of employees and self employed persons is calculated by the average monthly employment data provided by the Tax Authority (distributions on contributions data).
Annual average is calculated for the number of employees and self-employed, it is not calculated for operational period.
If there is no employment data the number of self-employed is not estimated.
Type of data source: the data is fully based on SBS microdata, which uses administrative data (tax data, financial statements etc.) and surveys.
Coverage of SBR (Statistical Business Register): The SBR has full coverage, it contains every resident legal unit of Hungary regardless of legal form, activity, employment and turnover, no thresholds applied.
Matching, profiling or imputation: Matching is performed between different reference years' population in order to determine the births and deaths of enterprises. The birth and death dates of enterprises are not available.
Annual.
The Hungarian Business Register is up-to-date. There is an automated on-line data transferring system with the other national administrative bodies – this is the so called “Single Window System”. Therefore the codes held in BR (main activity, legal form) reflect to the state of the end of the reference period.
The first release of the data at national level is at T+11 months (preliminary number of active enterprises), the second release is at T+18 months (final number of active enterprises).
Not requested.
First reference year available (calendar year): 1999
Breaks in time series and reasons for the breaks:
2008 - implementation of NACE Rev 2.0
2020 - implementation of the statistical unit enterprise as previously the legal unit was used
2021 - The scope of the observed population expanded
