Number of active businesses increased by 8.6% in 2021 – NSO

Almost 10% of businesses were in the construction industry

There were 55,950 active business units in Malta in 2021, according to data published by the National Statistics Office.

This signified an increase of 8.6%, or 4,430 units, over 2020.

The largest increase in the number of active business units was observed in the Transportation and storage sector followed by the Professional, scientific and technical activities and Construction.

The Wholesale, retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector accounted for 18.1% of the active business units; Professional, scientific and technical activities accounted for 13.4%, whilst Construction accounted for 9.7%.

In 2021, 69.6% of the active business units were sole proprietors and partnerships, 28.1% were limited liability companies or public limited liability companies (Plc), while 2.3% were non-profit organisations, cooperatives, corporations, branches or joint ventures.

The number of new registrations within the active business population decreased by 36% while deregistrations increased by 26% over 2020.

Compared to the situation a year earlier, micro business units employing between 0 and 9 persons increased by 9%, while small business units employing between 10 and 49 persons, increased by 2.8%.

Medium-sized business units employing between 50 and 249 persons decreased by 2.2%.

There were 18,227 employers in Malta in 2021, an increase of 8.5%, over the previous year.