Entrepreneurship indicators of Canadian enterprises

Released: 2021-11-10

The entrepreneurship indicators of Canadian enterprises for the 2019 reference period are now available upon request.

The Entrepreneurship Indicator Database program provides data that describe the entrepreneurial dynamics of Canadian enterprises. The data include the number of active enterprises with one or more employees, the number of births and deaths of active enterprises with one or more employees, the number of jobs associated with enterprise births and deaths, the survival of newly created enterprises, and the number of high-growth enterprises and gazelles. The program was created to meet the economic challenges associated with entrepreneurship policies in Canada.

In 2019, there were 1,143,610 active enterprises in Canada with one or more employees. Of those, 64.6% had four employees or less. In the same year, there were 79,530 births and 90,710 deaths of enterprises. The construction sector represented the largest number of high-growth enterprises by employment and by revenue. With 1,140 high-growth enterprises by employment and 2,530 high-growth enterprises by revenue, this sector accounted for 15.9% and 19.5% of the total, respectively.

Births and deaths of enterprises with one or more employees

It was mostly small active enterprises with one to four employees that contributed to the dynamic of enterprise births and deaths: small enterprises with one to four employees accounted for 84.6% of all births and 83.3% of all deaths of active enterprises with one or more employees.

The professional, scientific and technical services sector had the most enterprise births and deaths, representing 17.7% of all births and 16.5% of all deaths of active enterprises with one or more employees.

Survival of enterprises with one or more employees

Among the 86,650 new enterprises with one or more employees in 2018, 71,160 survived between 2018 and 2019. Among the 78,300 new enterprises with one or more employees in 2017, 52,550 survived between 2017 and 2019.

High-growth enterprises and gazelles by employment

Of all active enterprises with 10 or more employees in 2019, high-growth enterprises by the number of employees accounted for 3.4%, while gazelles accounted for 0.6%. The mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector had the highest percentage of high-growth enterprises by employment (8.7%), followed by the information and cultural industries sector (6.0%).The next three sectors were the professional, scientific and technical services; administrative and support, waste management and remediation services; and utilities (5.6% each). Alberta was the province with the highest percentage of high-growth enterprises by employment (4.2%).

High-growth enterprises and gazelles by revenue

Of all active businesses with 10 or more employees in 2019, high-growth enterprises by revenue represented 6.2% while gazelles represented 1.1%. The mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector had the largest percentage of high-growth enterprise by revenue (16.5%), followed by the information and cultural industries sector (12.0%) and the construction sector (11.5%). British Columbia was the province with the highest percentage of high-growth enterprises by revenue (7.0%).

Products

The infographic "Active Enterprises in Canada, 2019" is now available as part of the series Statistics Canada — Infographics (Catalogue number11-627-M).

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).