The analysis of the change in the number of companies from 2006–2014 shows that the largest reduction has taken place in the trade section, followed by the manufacturing and the accommodation and food service sections. The highest increase was monitored in the energy section, which is a special case: Influenced by the German EEG law with its high feed-in-tariffs for renewable energy, the number of companies has more than tripled between 2006 and 2014. However, almost only small, often single person companies without any employees have been opened in this section. Besides, the rise in the number of companies has been very high in sections that provide mostly services for companies plus in the real estate section.

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The development of the openings and closings of companies as well as the total number of companies in different economic sections in Germany based on data from the Federal Statistical Office has been analysed and forecasted by GWS since 2015. Within the update 2017, new available historic data has been added and the forecasts have been extended until 2020. Furthermore, the update contains a detailed analysis as well as an approach to identify reasons for these changes for altogether eight economic sections with the highest changes in the number of companies – four with the highest increase in the number of companies and four with the highest reduction rate.

A detailed analysis plus forecasts of company demographics (in German) can be found here.

GWS will continue and deepen its analysis and projections of company development in economic sections in the following years.