Monthly estimates of business openings and closures, December 2025
Released: 2026-03-23
In December, the business opening rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 4.8%, following a 0.5 percentage point increase in the previous month. The business closure rate held at 4.8% in December, after a slight decline of 0.1 percentage points in November. In December, the opening rate was 0.1 percentage points above its 2015-to-2019 historical average, whereas the closure rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than its historical average.
Chart 1
Monthly business openings and closures as a percentage of active businesses, business sector, January 2024 to December 2025, seasonally adjusted data
In December, the number of active businesses dropped slightly by 0.1% (-659 businesses), as the number of openings was a little lower than that of closures. In the same month, payroll employment declined by 0.2%, real gross domestic product rose by 0.2% and business insolvency filings dropped by 4.0% from 350 in November to 336 in December.
The decline in the business opening rate in December was largely driven by a 0.2 percentage point decrease in the reopening rate (to 3.2%), as the entry rate held relatively steady at 1.6%. While the reopening rate was 0.3 percentage points above its historical average, the entry rate was 0.2 percentage points below its historical average.
In December, the change in the number of active businesses varied across sectors. The decrease in the overall number of active businesses was driven by construction (-184 businesses compared with November, making a 62.6% contribution to the decline in the overall number of active businesses). It was followed by professional, scientific and technical services (-147 businesses; 50.0% contribution); real estate and rental and leasing (-139 businesses; 47.3% contribution); and manufacturing (-134 businesses; 45.6% contribution).
The decrease in the overall number of active businesses in December was largely mitigated by increases in health care and social assistance (+289 businesses, accounting for a 98.3% negative contribution); retail trade (+125 businesses; 42.5% negative contribution); and finance and insurance, and management of companies and enterprises (+120 businesses; 40.8% negative contribution).
Chart 2
Percent contribution of sectors to the change in the number of active businesses, November to December 2025, seasonally adjusted data
Sharper decline in active businesses in sectors dependent on US demand
Business activity in sectors less exposed to trade remained relatively stable from January 2024 to December 2025, while it declined more noticeably in sectors dependent on US demand, such as the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector and the manufacturing sector. Over this period, the number of active businesses fell by 2.9% in sectors dependent on US demand, compared with 0.7% in other sectors. The gap between the two groups widened over time, becoming more pronounced in 2025, as the number of active businesses in sectors dependent on US demand continued to decline, while that in other sectors fluctuated closer to its January 2024 level. The downturn in sectors dependent on US demand began before the trade tensions between Canada and the United States, suggesting that other factors, such as shifting global demand or domestic industry dynamics, may also be at play. However, the continued decline through 2025 may reflect additional pressures associated with the evolving trade environment.
Chart 3
Growth in the number of active businesses, sectors dependent on US demand and other sectors, January 2024 to December 2025, seasonally adjusted data
The number of active businesses remains relatively stable in 2025
In 2025, the business opening rate ranged from 4.5% to 5.1%. With the exception of October (4.5%), the opening rate was greater than or equal to its historical average of 4.7% in every month. The closure rate ranged from 4.7% to 5.0% and remained above its historical average of 4.6% throughout 2025.
The number of active businesses varied little on a monthly basis in 2025. For 11 months in 2025, the growth rate of the number of active businesses ranged from -0.1% to 0.1%. The largest monthly change in the number of active businesses was recorded in October (-0.2% growth rate; -1,728 businesses).
Chart 4
Monthly average growth rate of the number of active businesses, business sector, January to December 2025, seasonally adjusted data
With the exception of 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the monthly average number of active businesses has been on an upward trend since 2015. However, the pace of growth has slowed since 2022. The monthly average growth rate of the number of active businesses reached 0.33% in 2021, before dropping to 0.15% in 2022, 0.05% in 2023, 0.02% in 2024 and close to zero in 2025. The monthly average closure rate was 4.8% in 2025 and equal to the monthly average opening rate. This explains the slight variation in the average number of active businesses from 2024 to 2025.
Chart 5
Monthly average growth rate of active businesses, business sector, 2015 to 2025, seasonally adjusted data
Note to readers
With each release, data for the preceding month are revised as additional information becomes available. This may also involve minor revisions to historical data because of seasonal adjustment. Users are encouraged to use the most up-to-date data available for each month.
Seasonal adjustment is applied separately to each sector to account for unique patterns; this can lead to discrepancies between business sector figures and the sum of sector-specific ones.
Percentages in Chart 2 represent the contribution of each sector to the business sector's overall variation. The percentage is negative when the direction of a sector's variation is different from that of the overall variation, and it is positive when sectoral and overall variations are in the same direction.
More precisely, a sector's contribution is negative if it shows a decrease in the number of businesses, while the total number of businesses has increased. Similarly, a sector's contribution is negative if it shows an increase in the number of businesses, while the total number of businesses has fallen.
Industries dependent on US demand for Canadian exports were identified using the estimated share of value added attributable to US demand, based on the most recent annual data available from table 12-10-0100-01.
An industry was considered dependent on US demand if 35% or more of its total value added was attributable to foreign demand for exports to the United States, using two-digit North American Industry Classification System codes.
For more information on the data presented in this release, see the Monthly Business Openings and Closures (5401) survey page.
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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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