Analytics, Estonia, Good for Business, Markets and Companies

Chief statistician of the Statistic Board Marielle Borthwick wrote in the statistics blog that the decline in 2010 was mostly due to the fact that self-employed persons were obliged to register with the Commercial Register. Hence one third of self-employed persons ceased active operations and that affected the total number of operating business entities, writes LETA.

The number of registered self-employed persons has fallen since 2007 and in 2011, their number declined by nearly 2,000. The number of operating companies, on the other hand, has been constantly growing, in 2011 by nearly 5,500 or 8%.

The increase in the number of non-profit organisations is constantly decelerating – in 2009 the growth was 7%, in 2010 6% and in 2011 only 4%. In 2011, 1,204 non-profit organisations and 8 foundations were registered.

During the years 2009 and 2010, the number of major enterprises declined significantly, by 12% and 16%, respectively. In 2011, they grew in number; 16 enterprises with the staff of at least 250 were added to the register.

The number of companies grew in all counties, except for the Valga County where the number fell by 27 companies in 2011. Harju County received the most new enterprises in 2011 – more than 2,500, increasing its number by 5%.