How many enterprises in the Netherlands?

The Netherlands is home to a total of 1.9 million enterprises. The sectors with the largest numbers of companies are specialised business services (374 thousand), trade (243 thousand) and construction (200 thousand).

The vast majority of enterprises employ fewer than 5 people (93 percent). In the specialised business services and construction sectors, the percentage of small enterprises is even slightly higher.

The share of enterprises with 5 employed persons or more is relatively large in manufacturing (18 percent) and the accommodation and food services sector (20 percent). There are 8 thousand enterprises in the Netherlands with 100 or more employees. These companies are most often active in manufacturing (1.3 thousand) and trade (1.1 thousand).

Show tableTotal enterprise population, Q3 2020 (x 1,000)Hide tableTotal enterprise population, Q3 2020 (x 1,000)

Total enterprise population, Q3 2020 (x 1,000)

Bedrijfstak	Number of enterprises
Specialised business services	374.1
Trade	243.2
Construction	200.0
Healthcare and welfare	174.8
Culture, sports and recreation	116.2
Other services	110.9
Education	101.3
Information and communication	100.4
Financial services	99.0
Renting and other business activities	83.8
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	75.5
Manufacturing	70.2
Accommodation and food services	64.2
Transportation and storage	49.3
Real estate activities	28.6
Other	5.0

Enterprise population growing each year

The number of enterprises has been increasing every year. In Q3 2007, there were 1.0 million enterprises in the Netherlands. The majority are classified under the legal form natural persons.noot1 Under this form, one or more persons are severally liable for the company’s liabilities and expenses. An enterprise can also be set up as a legal personnoot2, whereby the enterprise itself is regarded as a person in legal terms.

The increase in the number of enterprises was highest among sole proprietorships. In Q3 2020, two-thirds of all enterprises were sole proprietorships, versus slightly more than 50 percent in the same quarter in 2007. In this period, the number of sole proprietorships more than doubled from 569 thousand to nearly 1.3 million. The number of private limited liability companies, the most common form among legal persons, rose from 126 thousand to almost 380 thousand.

Show tableEnterprise population, third quarters (x 1,000)Hide tableEnterprise population, third quarters (x 1,000)

Enterprise population, third quarters (x 1,000)

Jaar	Sole proprietorships	Other natural persons	Private limited companies (BV)	Other legal persons
2007	569.2	176.5	253.2	41.5
2008	624.2	174.6	274.5	39.7
2009	683.2	176.4	289.6	40.4
2010	725.0	189.4	293.9	42.2
2011	779.4	187.4	298.0	42.3
2012	813.9	192.3	308.6	43.9
2013	842.3	193.8	312.7	43.7
2014	883.3	192.1	318.4	43.5
2015	936.7	196.6	329.0	44.0
2016	993.4	199.6	338.3	44.2
2017	1056.2	202.0	345.0	45.0
2018	1097.1	203.0	357.9	45.4
2019	1170.3	205.0	365.3	51.6
2020	1257.3	208.9	379.5	50.7

The questions

1. How does CBS calculate the figures?
2. How do we use our land?
3. How fast is the population growing?
4. How are the various animal species doing?
5. What are our top concerns?
6. Where do the emigrants go?
7. Who use social media the most?
8. How isolated do we feel?
9. What are our favourite wedding dates? What about partnership registrations?
10. How many under-18s are receiving youth assistance?
11. What about cyber crime?
12. What are the most popular majors?
13. What are the major religions?
14. How many overnight stays?
15. How many people shop online? And the items they buy...
16. Who are eligible to vote?
17. What are young people doing online?
18. How many adults smoke or have smoked?
19. Where were people in the Caribbean Netherlands originally born?
20. Where do Caribbean Dutch children live?
21. How much internet usage in the Caribbean Netherlands?
22. How many people (never) work from home?
23. How many millionaires in the Netherlands?
24. Has our purchasing power gone up or down?
25. Which jobs have the highest levels of mental fatigue?
26. How many employees are members of a trade union?
27. How many passengers flying into and out of the Netherlands?
28. How much nitrogen is emitted at livestock farms?
29. How many dwellings in the Netherlands?
30. How much is our average mileage in electric cars?
31. What do we import from China?
32. Which prices are up, which are down?
33. What is our production of frozen fries?
34. How many enterprises in the Netherlands?
35. How much energy do we get from biomass?
36. How much do we recycle?
37. Which flower bulbs are most common?
38. What is the impact of coronavirus?