Business demography statistics provide an annual snapshot of the characteristics of New Zealand businesses. The statistics cover economically significant enterprises that produce goods and services in New Zealand.
Key facts
Provisional data showed that at February 2025:
- New Zealand had 617,330 enterprises, an increase of 0.5 percent from February 2024; this followed a 1.2 percent increase in the previous February year
- the number of paid employees in these enterprises (not an official employment statistic) was 2.4 million, down 2.2 percent from February 2024
- these enterprises had 654,460 business locations, an increase of 0.5 percent from February 2024
- of the 19 industries, 12 had more enterprises compared with February 2024, and six had more employees
- of the 16 regions, 11 had more business locations than a year ago, and one had more employees.
The enterprise counts in this series are influenced not only by enterprise births and deaths but also by those enterprises that change their economic significance status between reference years.
DataInfo+ has more information about business demography statistics coverage and economic significance criteria.
| Year | Enterprises |
| 2013 | 477711 |
| 2014 | 495813 |
| 2015 | 508278 |
| 2016 | 518076 |
| 2017 | 532305 |
| 2018 | 538014 |
| 2019 | 549645 |
| 2020 | 560715 |
| 2021 | 565146 |
| 2022 | 595119 |
| 2023 | 607191 |
| 2024 | 614202 |
| 2025 | 617334 |
| Year | Employees |
| 2013 | 1948200 |
| 2014 | 2002700 |
| 2015 | 2048900 |
| 2016 | 2100600 |
| 2017 | 2161400 |
| 2018 | 2233700 |
| 2019 | 2285200 |
| 2020 | 2327400 |
| 2021 | 2309100 |
| 2022 | 2386700 |
| 2023 | 2458200 |
| 2024 | 2497300 |
| 2025 | 2443400 |
Health care and social assistance industry retains the top employer position
- With 293,600 employees at February 2025 (0.8 percent more than a year ago), the health care and social assistance industry retained its position as the highest-employing industry for the fifth consecutive year.
- At February 2025, the financial and insurance services industry had 50,940 enterprises and 70,100 employees, showing annual increases of 7.7 and 1.6 percent respectively.
- The accommodation and food services industry had 3.1 percent more enterprises at February 2025 than a year ago, and 2.7 percent fewer employees.
- The number of employees in the construction industry decreased by 14,500 (6.8 percent) from its peak count of 213,000 employees, recorded at February 2024.
- The retail trade industry had 29,500 enterprises and 222,400 employees at February 2025, a decrease of 1.5 and 2.5 percent respectively, from February 2024.
- The rental, hiring, and real estate services industry had the largest share (21 percent) of all enterprises in New Zealand. This industry mostly consists of residential and commercial property operators.
Employment eases across nearly all regions
At February 2025, there were fewer employees in all regions in New Zealand than at February 2024, except in the Otago region.
The Auckland region, which accounted for 35 percent of all business locations and all employees in the country, saw its number of employees decrease by 2.5 percent in the year ended February 2025. The number of business locations was up 0.8 percent during that period.
The Canterbury region, with a 14 percent share of all employees and a 13 percent share of all business locations, had 1.3 percent fewer employees and 1.5 percent more business locations at February 2025, compared with February 2024.
The Wellington region had 281,600 employees and 62,440 business locations, down 3.5 percent and 2.2 percent respectively, from February 2024.
The number of employees in the Otago region rose by 0.3 percent in the year ended February 2025, following a 1.5 percent rise in the previous year. The number of business locations in this region increased by 2.1 percent.
| Region | Percent |
| Northland | -2.3 |
| Auckland | -2.5 |
| Waikato | -1.7 |
| Bay of Plenty | -2.5 |
| Gisborne | -5.4 |
| Hawke's Bay | -0.9 |
| Taranaki | -2.3 |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | -2.2 |
| Wellington | -3.5 |
| Tasman | -2.1 |
| Nelson | -3.9 |
| Marlborough | -2.5 |
| West Coast | -0.8 |
| Canterbury | -1.3 |
| Otago | 0.3 |
| Southland | -0.7 |
Mid-sized enterprises see steeper employment declines
At February 2025, the enterprises with 20 to 99 employees had 3.1 percent fewer employees than at February 2024. This compares with an overall employment drop of 2.2 percent for all enterprises.
The number of 'large enterprises' (those with 100 or more employees) at February 2025 was 2,840, down 2.1 percent from February 2024. These enterprises had 1,209,700 employees or 50 percent of the total number of employees in New Zealand.
At February 2025, 74 percent of enterprises in New Zealand did not have any (paid) employees.
| Size group | Enterprises | Employees |
| 0 | 1.3 | 0 |
| 1-5 | -1.4 | -1.3 |
| 6-9 | -2 | -1.9 |
| 10-19 | -2.1 | -2.1 |
| 20-49 | -3.4 | -3.1 |
| 50-99 | -3.5 | -3.1 |
| 100+ | -2.1 | -1.9 |
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More data
Use Infoshare to access monthly time-series data on business counts.
Subject category: Businesses
Group: Business Count Indicators - BCI
Interactive map
Explore the average growth for geographic units and employees during the last five years by more detailed geographic areas:
Average annual change for geographic areas between 2020 and 2025
Definitions and metadata
Business demography statistics - DataInfo+ has information about this data, including general methodology about the collection, the terms used, and data accuracy.
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Next release
New Zealand business demography statistics: At February 2026 will be released in October 2026.
