The survival rate of active entreprises in Brazil was of 84.8% in 2017, which represents 3.8 million enterprises. The entry rate was 15.2% and the exit rate, 15.7%. As a result, the enterprises' balance was negative (22.9 thousand less).

The South (86.6%) and Southeast (85.0%) registered the highest survival rates whereas the highest entry and exit rates were seen in the North (19.0% and 18.8%), Central-West (17.2% and 16.4%) and Northeast (16.9% and 16.9%).

Electricity and gas was the activity that presented the highest entry rate (23.3%), whereas Construction recorded the exit rate (20.8%).

Of the total employed persons (38.4 million), 95.6% were in the surviving enterprises; 4.4%, in the enterers; and 3.6%, in those that left the market. The percentage of male employed persons was higher in the surviving enterprises (60.9%) than in the entering (57.6%) and exiting enterprises (59.5%). The participation of salaried staff without higher education was 85.7% in survivors; 91.3% in those entering the market and 92.4% in those exiting.

Regarding entrepreneurship, the number of high-growth enterprises   (20,306) was the lowest in the series started in 2008 (30,954), while the highest was registered in 2012 (35,206). Between 2016 and 2017, there was a reduction in the number of high-growth enterprises, both in absolute (692 enterprises) and relative (3.3%) terms.

High-growth enterprises represented 0.5% of active enterprises, 0.8% of enterprises with salaried employed persons and 4.5% of companies with 10 or more salaried employed persons.

The Southeast region had the highest concentration of local units and employed persons, both in high-growth enterprises (49.2% and 50.8%) and enterprises with 10 or more salaried persons (49.5% and 52.9%). %).

Of the total high-growth enterprises, 11.9% were gazelles (2,422), which employed 198,800 salaried persons. Most of these companies were in the range of 10 to 49 employees (59.9%). Among salaried persons, the highest participation was of men (64.5%) and persons without complete higher education (89.7%).

These are some of the highlights of the 2017 Demography of Enterprises and Statistics of Entrepreneurship. The survey looks at business dynamics through market entry, exit, re-entry and survival indicators, salaried employed persons, high-growth enterprise and gazelle statistics, as well as indicators related to local business units and activities.

Learn more about the study in the support material on this page.

In 2017, the Central Register of Enterprises (Cempre) totaled 4.5 million of active enterprises, which employed 38.4 million persons, of whom 31.9 million (83.1%) were salaried and 6.5 million (16.9%) were partners or owners. In the comparison with 2016, there was a 0.5% drop in the number of enterprises (22.9 thousand less) and a 0.4% decrease, both in the total employed persons (163.0 thousand less) and in the salaried persons (134.9 thousand less).

The enterprise balance was negative (22.9 thousand less), as in 2016 (71.1 thousand less), 2015 (5.0 thousand less) and 2014 (217.7 thousand less). From the total active enterprises, 84.8% (3.8 million) were survivors and 15.2% corresponded to entries (676.4 thousand), of which 11.3% relative to births (503.2 thousand) and 3.9%, to reentries (173.2 thousand). The enterprises that left the market totaled 15.7% (699.4 thousand enterprises).

The entries represented 829.4 thousand salaried persons in the formal labor market, a gain of 2.6%. And the exits corresponded to a total of 469.4 thousand salaried persons, which generated a 1.5% loss. The difference between entries and exits resulted in a positive balance of salaried persons of 360.0 thousand persons.

In comparison with 2016, the entries were 4.3% higher and added up an amount of salaried employed persons of 12.2%. The exits, in turn,  were 2.8% lower, with a 7.4% reduction in the salaried employed persons.

96.6% of the enterprises with 10 or more employees survived in 2017

In 2017, among the enterprises that entered the market, 73.9% had no salaried employed persons, but only partners and owners, and 23.9% had 1 to 9 salaried persons. Regarding the exits, 82.8% had no salaried employed persons, and 16.2% had between 1 and 9 salaried persons.

Among the enterprises without salaried personnel, 75.7% survived; in those with 1 to 9 salaried employed persons, this rate reached 91.7%, achieving 96.6% in enterprises with 10 or more employed persons.

Men and persons without higher education prevailed among salaried persons

In active enterprises in 2017, 60.8% of employed persons were men and 39.2%, women, close to the rate of surviving enterprises: 60.9% and 39.1%. Considering salaried staff linked to the entry of enterprises into the market, 57.6% were men and 42.4% were women, and, as to those leaving the market, 59.5% were men and 40.5%, women.

Considering the level of schooling, the participation of salaried employees without higher education was 85.8% in active enterprises; 85.7% in surviving enterprises; 91.3% in enterprises that entered the market and 92.4% in enterprises that left it.

Electricity and gas had the highest entry rate (23.3%) and Construction, the highest exit rate (20.8%)

Among the economic activities, the highest entry rates were observed in: Electricity and gas (23.3%), Financial activities, insurance and related services  (20.7%), Professional, scientific and technical activities (20.1%), Real Estate (20.0%), Construction (19.7%) and Information and Communication (19.3%).

On the other hand, the lowest rates were recorded in: Manufacturing industries (11.0%), Trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (13.0%), and mining and quarrying (13.1%). These were the activities with the highest corporate survival rates: 89.0%, 87.0% and 86.9%, respectively.

The highest exit rates were: Construction (20.8%), Other service activities (19.1%) and Information and communication (18.3%). The smallest were: Human Health and Social Services (9.1%), Education (12.5%) and Manufacturing Industries (13.7%).

Enterprises born in 2008 had the highest survival rates

Among the enterprises born in 2012, the survival rate was 78.9% after 1 year of operation (2013), 64.5% after 2 years (2014), 55.0% after 3 years (2015), 47.2% after 4 years (2016) and 39.8% after 5 years (2017).

Enterprises that were born in 2008 had the highest survival rates over a five-year period. Of the total enterprises that were born in 2008 (558.6 thousand), 81.5% survived until 2009, 70.8% survived after two years, 61.0% after three years and 47.8% after five years. The lowest survival rates were observed among enterprises that were born in 2013: 71.9% survived after 1 year, 61.0% after 2 years, 51.5% after 3 years and 42.6% after 5 years.

86.3% of surviving enterprises stood in the range of salaries employed persons

In 2016, 38.6% of the enterprises were in the range of 0 salaried employed persons; 50.4%, in the range from 1 to 10; 9.1%, in the range of 11 to 49; and 1.8%, in the range of 50 or more. In 2017, the percentage was: 40.7% (range of 0 salaried employed persons), 47.7% (range 1 to 10), 8.6% (range 11 to 49) and 1.7% (range of 50 or more).

Regarding the mobility of the surviving enterprises from 2016 to 2017, 86.3% of them remained in the salaried employed group, 5.0% moved to the upper range and 7.3% fell to the lower salaried staff range.

South and Southeast record the highest survival rates 

In 2017, there 4.9 million active local units, of which 50.0% were located in the Southeast; 22.5%, in the South; 15.5%, in the Northeast; 8.3%, in the Central-West; and 3.7%, in the North.

The South (86.6%) and Southeast Regions (85.0%) had the highest survival rates, while the highest entry and exit rates were observed in the North (19.0% and 18.8%), Central-West (17.2% and 16.4%) and Northeast Regions (16.9% and 16.9%). The South had the lowest exit rate from Brazil (13.8%). But the most significant reduction (2.8 pp) was observed in the Northeast between 2012 (19.7%) and 2017 (16.9%).

The highest survival rates among the Federation Units were: Rio Grande do Sul (87.4%), Santa Catarina (87.2%), Minas Gerais (86.2%) and Paraná (85.5%). Amazonas (78.5%), Maranhão (80.1%), Pará (80.5%) and Amapá (81.1%) recorded the lowest ones.

Entrepreneurship: lowest number of high-growth enterprises in time series  

In 2017, there were 20,306 high-growth enterprises in Brazil (average growth in salaried employed persons of at least 20% per year for a period of three years and with 10 or more salaried employed persons in the initial year of observation). This was the smallest number in the series started in 2008 (30,954), whereas the largest was in 2012 (35,206).

These enterprises represented 0.5% of active enterprises, 0.8% of enterprises with salaried employed persons and 4.5% of enterprises with 10 or more salaried employed persons. They were responsible for absorbing 7.9% of salaried persons (2.5 million) and paying 6.9% of salaries and other compensation.

Between 2016 and 2017, there was a reduction in the number of high-growth enterprises, both in absolute (692 enterprises) and relative (3.3%) terms, with the fall covering 8 of the 11 sections analyzed. Education registered the largest drop in both absolute terms (217 enterprises) and relative terms (19.1%). Construction presented the second largest retraction (185 enterprises and 9.0%), followed by Trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (159 enterprises and 2.9%).

In the 2015-2017 triennium, there was a decrease in the number of high-growth enterprises (5,490 less companies), which represents a 21.3% reduction. The largest losses in absolute values were in the Trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (1,570) and Construction (1,030). Construction (-35.5%) and Education (-31.4%) stood out in relative terms. Information and communication presented the smallest reduction (-4.5%).

Almost half of the high-growth enterprises' local units were in the Southeast (49.2%), followed by the South (19.3%), Northeast (17.5%), Central-West (8.7%) and North (5.3%). The distribution of local units of active enterprises with 10 or more salaried employed persons presented a similar pattern, with the South and Southeast Regions accounting together for 70.2% of such units.

55.2% of high-growth enterprises were in the range of 10 to 49 salaried employed persons

The set of enterprises with salaried persons presented a relative change of 1.4% in salaried employed persons (446.0 thousand new job positions) from 2014 (31.4 million) to 2017 (31.9 million). Among high-growth enterprises, this increase was 171.0% (1.6 million new positions).

Regarding size, in 2017, 55.2% of high-growth enterprises were in the range of 10 to 49 salaried employed persons; 36.7%, from 50 to 249; and 8.1% from 250 or more. Enterprises with 10 to 49 employed persons accounted for 13.9% of total wage earners and paid 11.2% of salaries and other compensation. On the other hand, in enterprises with 250 or more salaried employed persons, these percentages were 56.5% and 61.4%.

The distribution of high-growth enterprises in relation to age group was: more than 10 to 20 years (33.7%), more than 5 to 10 years (33.5%), more than 20 to 30 (13.9%), from 3 to 5 years (11.9%), more than 30 to 40 years (4.4%) and over 40 years old (2.6%).

Men still prevail among salaried persons in high-growth enterprises, but women's participation is on the rise

In high-growth enterprises, in 2017, the percentage of men (62.4%) in the total of salaried employed persons was higher than that of women (37.6%). But from 2009 to 2017, there was an increase in women's participation, both in high-growth enterprises (from 31.0% to 37.6%) and in enterprises with 10 or more employed persons (from 33.5% to 37.6%).

The share of salaried employed persons with complete higher education in high-growth enterprises increased from 9.6% (2009) to 15.1% (2017), representing an increase of 5.5 pp in enterprises with 10 or more employed persons, this change went from 10.2% to 15.6% (5.4 pp).

11.9% of the high-growth enterprises were gazelles

In 2017, there were 2,422 gazelle enterprises (high-growth enterprises aged between three and five years in the year of reference). This number was the lowest in the time series, which started in 2008, while the largest number of gazelle enterprises was seen in 2012 (4,671). Gazelle enterprises, in 2017, represented 11.9% of high-growth enterprises and employed 198,800 salaried people. Compared to 2016, there was a 11.1% drop in the number of enterprises and 17.3% in salaried employed persons.

Most gazelle enterprises were concentrated in the range of 10 to 49 salaried employed persons (59.9%), followed by the range of 50 to 249  (35.3%) and 250 or more persons (4.8%). Among the salaried persons, there was a higher participation of men (64.5%) and of persons without complete higher education (89.7%).