Estonia, Good for Business, Legislation, Markets and Companies

Companies were registered the most in September, with more than 2,600 new companies registered during that month. A total of approximately 26,500 companies will be established this year, which is 1,500 more than last year, SEB said.

"While three-quarters of new companies are private companies, 6% are self-employed persons and 4% are new non-profit associations, the share of limited partnerships is strikingly high -- 11%. This year, the establishment of limited partnerships was primarily boosted by small electricity producers established by encouragement of subsidies," Lennart Kitt, head of Baltic client analysis and data science at SEB, said in a press release.

In Harju County, where the number of registered new enterprises makes up almost two thirds of all new enterprises in Estonia, 4% more new enterprises were established compared to last year, the growth was mainly driven by companies in the energy sector. At the same time, the establishment of companies providing construction, administrative and financial services has slowed down compared to last year.

Compared to the previous year, much more new companies were registered in West-Viru, Saare and Tartu counties, where electricity producers were also driving the establishment of new companies, but growth was also noticeable in other sectors. Fewer new enterprises were established in Voru and Rapla counties, where the slowdown was mainly due to the lack of new trade enterprises.

Of the sectors, the biggest change has taken place in the registration of electricity producers -- while last year, they made up 1% of new companies, then this year, their share is 7%. At the same time, the share of other sectors among new enterprises has more or less evenly decreased, with only enterprises in the professional, trade and IT sectors accounting for more than 10%.