Number of SMEs
New Zealand is predominantly a nation of small businesses.
Most enterprises in New Zealand are small and medium-sized enterprises. At February 2006:
- 96.4% of enterprises employed 19 or fewer people.
- 86.8% of enterprises employed 5 or fewer people.
- 63.6% of enterprises had no employees.
Figure 1. Number of Enterprises by Size, at February 2006
→ Full size version of Figure 1 [14 kB GIF]
The statistics in this report include both public and private enterprises, with the exception of data from the Business Operations Survey that cover only private enterprises. Public enterprises include central and local government enterprises, other local authorities and runanga. Private enterprises include private corporate and non-corporate producer enterprises, producer boards, private registered banks and private insurance and pension funds. The following table shows the number of enterprises in the private and government sectors.
Table 1. Private and Government Sector Enterprises by Size, at February 2006
|
Private Sector |
Government Sector |
| EC Size Group |
Number of Enterprises |
Employee Count (EC) |
Number of Enterprises |
Employee Count (EC) |
| 0 |
219,695 |
0 |
269 |
0 |
| 1-5 |
80,079 |
187,990 |
528 |
1,810 |
| 6-9 |
17,560 |
126,710 |
455 |
3,330 |
| 10-19 |
14,341 |
191,730 |
749 |
10,620 |
| 20-49 |
7,470 |
220,290 |
702 |
20,870 |
| 50-99 |
2,044 |
140,230 |
265 |
18,610 |
| 100-499 |
1,380 |
269,600 |
235 |
51,350 |
| 500+ |
221 |
310,050 |
98 |
212,240 |
The number of SMEs increased in the year to February 2006, although the proportion of SMEs remained relatively constant.
The number of SMEs increased by 3.6 percent in the year to February 2006, slightly up from the 3.1 percent increase in the year to February 2005. The total number of enterprises rose by 3.5 percent from 334,340 in February 2005 to 346,091 in February 2006.
The proportion of firms defined as SMEs was 96.4 percent at February 2006, compared to 96.3 percent at February 2005.
Figure 2. Cumulative Enterprise Count by EC Size Group, at February 2006
→ Full size version of Figure 2 [18 kB GIF]
Table 2. Annual Percentage Change in Numbers of Enterprises
| EC Size Group |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
| 0 |
-1.55% |
2.74% |
4.63% |
14.82% |
0.67% |
4.16% |
| 1-5 |
1.05% |
2.39% |
3.51% |
1.64% |
8.81% |
3.15% |
| 6-9 |
2.48% |
3.45% |
8.20% |
1.97% |
5.68% |
1.09% |
| 10-19 |
3.76% |
3.47% |
9.28% |
2.50% |
7.01% |
1.56% |
| 20-49 |
1.70% |
1.97% |
8.31% |
3.62% |
2.68% |
0.25% |
| 50-99 |
2.53% |
2.32% |
5.87% |
4.33% |
3.97% |
-0.86% |
| 100-499 |
4.58% |
0.36% |
1.43% |
4.30% |
4.87% |
4.13% |
| 500+ |
4.86% |
7.34% |
3.60% |
2.43% |
4.75% |
3.24% |
| Total |
-0.35% |
2.69% |
4.84% |
9.95% |
3.10% |
3.51% |
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