Press Release: Mercantile Companies Statistics (MC). December 2024 and year 2024. Provisional data.

Main results

The number of mercantile companies created increased by 17.7% in December compared with the same month in 2023.
The number of dissolved companies increased by 20.7% year-on-year.
In 2024 as a whole, a total of 117,990 mercantile companies were incorporated, 9.1% more than in 2023.

Más información

Annex of tables (includes information from the Autonomous Communities)
Detailed results

In December, 9,437 mercantile companies were incorporated, 17.7% more than in the same month in 2023. The subscribed capital for incorporation recorded an annual decrease of 14.2% and the average subscribed capital (63,508 euros) fell by 27.1%.

In addition, 2,559 companies increased their capital, 17.9% more than in December 2023. The subscribed capital in these increases rose by 127.9%.

The number of dissolved companies grew by 20.7% year-on-year. 86.6% of them did so voluntarily.

Mercantile companies created, increasing their capital and dissolved. December 2024

{
  "mode": "table",
  "category": [
    "Total",
    "% Variation",
    "Monthly",
    "Annual",
    "Annual accumulated",
    "Mercantile companies created",
    "Number",
    "Capital subscribed (thousands of euros)",
    "Average capital subscribed (euros)",
    "Mercantile companies increasing their capital",
    "Mercantile companies dissolved",
    "- Voluntary",
    "- Merger",
    "- Other"
  ],
  "col": [
    [
      "0",
      ""
    ],
    [
      "1",
      "2"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "3"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "4"
    ]
  ],
  "row": [
    [
      "5",
      "6"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "7"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "8"
    ],
    [
      "9",
      "6"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "7"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "8"
    ],
    [
      "10",
      "6"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "11"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "12"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "13"
    ]
  ],
  "data": [
    "9,437",
    "-5.3",
    "17.7",
    "9.1",
    "599,327",
    "20.4",
    "-14.2",
    "-9.7",
    "63,508",
    "27.2",
    "-27.1",
    "-17.3",
    "2,559",
    "5.6",
    "17.9",
    "1.1",
    "3,851,288",
    "94.3",
    "127.9",
    "11.0",
    "1,504,997",
    "84.0",
    "93.3",
    "9.8",
    "3,243",
    "42.1",
    "20.7",
    "1.2",
    "2,807",
    "47.5",
    "20.4",
    "2.2",
    "221",
    "34.8",
    "25.6",
    "-14.7",
    "215",
    "0.0",
    "20.1",
    "10.3"
  ],
  "textLad": [
    "",
    "",
    "",
    ""
  ],
  "title": "",
  "leftSideCols": 2,
  "rowsHeader": 2
}

Results by main economic activity principal

16.9% of the mercantile companies created in December were engaged in Real Estate, Finance and Insurance and 16.2% in Trade. As for dissolved companies, 20.3% were engaged in Trade and 15.8% in Construction.

Mercantile companies created by main economic activity. December 2024

Percentage

Mercantile companies dissolved by main economic activity. December 2024

Percentage

The economic activity with the largest subscribed capital of mercantile companies incorporated was Real estate, financial and insurance, with 325.84 million euros. In turn, Information and communications companies had the lowest capital, with 2.78 million.

Capital subscribed of mercantile companies created by main economic activity.
December 2024

Thousands of euros

Results by Autonomous Community

País Vasco (42,5%), Castilla-La Mancha (40,2%) y Canarias (34,6%) presentaron los mayores aumentos anuales en el número de sociedades mercantiles creadas en diciembre.

Por su parte, Cantabria (-21,4%), Principado de Asturias (-3,2%) y Comunidad Foral de Navarra (-1,6%) registraron los mayores descensos.

Annual variation in mercantile companies created by Autonomous Community. December 2024

Percentage

{
  "mode": "chart",
  "type": "barrashorizontalesprensa",
  "width": "170mm",
  "height": "110mm",
  "legend": false,
  "valueAxis": false,
  "tags": true,
  "series": [
    { "label": "Annual variation (%)" }
  ],
  "ticks": [
    "Cantabria",
    "Asturias, Principado de",
    "Navarra, Comunidad Foral de",
    "Galicia",
    "Extremadura",
    "Aragón",
    "Andalucía",
    "Castilla y León",
    "Cataluña",
    "TOTAL",
    "Madrid, Comunidad de",
    "Balears, Illes",
    "Comunitat Valenciana",
    "Rioja, La",
    "Murcia, Región de",
    "Canarias",
    "Castilla - La Mancha",
    "País Vasco"
  ],
  "values": [
    [
      "-21.4",
      "-3.2",
      "-1.6",
      "-0.9",
      "2.9",
      "4.7",
      "5.1",
      "5.6",
      "17.6",
      "17.7",
      "23.2",
      "23.8",
      "24.3",
      "27.3",
      "31.5",
      "34.6",
      "40.2",
      "42.5"
    ]
  ],
  "ratioMargen": 0.1,
  "angleTick": "0",
  "angleTag": "0",
  "fillToZero": true,
  "colors": [
    "#457E76",
    "#A45C0A",
    "#0071AD",
    "#756F0F",
    "#C33C9D",
    "#677746"
  ],
  "config": {
    "marcaTick": {
      "color": "#9e1834",
      "value": "TOTAL"
    }
  }
}

Results for the whole of year 2024

In 2024, a total of 117,990 mercantile companies were incorporated, 9.1% more than in 2023. The subscribed capital for their incorporation decreased by 9.7% and the average capital decreased by 17.3%.

Mercantile companies created, that increased their capital, and disolved

{
  "mode": "table",
  "category": [
    "Total 2024",
    "% Variation",
    "2024",
    "2023",
    "2022",
    "2021",
    "Mercantile companies created",
    "Number",
    "Capital subscribed (thousand of euros)",
    "Average capital subscribed (euros)",
    "Mercantile companies increasing their capital",
    "Mercantile companies dissolved",
    "- Voluntary",
    "- Merger",
    "- Other"
  ],
  "col": [
    [
      "0",
      ""
    ],
    [
      "1",
      "2"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "3"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "4"
    ],
    [
      "",
      "5"
    ]
  ],
  "row": [
    [
      "6"
    ],
    [
      "7"
    ],
    [
      "8"
    ],
    [
      "9"
    ],
    [
      "10"
    ],
    [
      "7"
    ],
    [
      "8"
    ],
    [
      "9"
    ],
    [
      "11"
    ],
    [
      "7"
    ],
    [
      "12"
    ],
    [
      "13"
    ],
    [
      "14"
    ]
  ],
  "data": [
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "117,990",
    "9.1",
    "9.1",
    "-2.1",
    "27.8",
    "5,682,757",
    "-9.7",
    "21.3",
    "2.9",
    "2.7",
    "48,163",
    "-17.3",
    "11.1",
    "5.1",
    "-19.7",
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "29,769",
    "1.1",
    "1.4",
    "-0.7",
    "15.9",
    "23,870,099",
    "11.0",
    "9.0",
    "-27.7",
    "40.8",
    "801,844",
    "9.8",
    "7.5",
    "-27.3",
    "21.5",
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "",
    "25,090",
    "1.2",
    "-5.5",
    "10.2",
    "17.3",
    "20,832",
    "2.2",
    "-1.8",
    "11.6",
    "21.1",
    "2,087",
    "-14.7",
    "-18.0",
    "13.4",
    "-9.3",
    "2,171",
    "10.3",
    "-21.3",
    "-2.9",
    "26.3"
  ],
  "textLad": [
    "",
    ""
  ],
  "title": "",
  "leftSideCols": 1,
  "rowsHeader": 2
}

Number of companies created, that increased their capital and disolved in the last five years

In thousands

{
    "mode": "chart",
    "type": "barrasprensa",
    "width": "170mm",
    "height": "45mm",
    "legend": true,
    "valueAxis": false,
    "tags": true,
    "series": [
        {
            "label": "Created"
        },
        {
            "label": "Increasing"
        },
        {
            "label": "Dissolved"
        }
    ],
    "ticks": [
        "2020",
        "2021",
        "2022",
        "2023",
        "2024"
    ],
    "values": [
        [
            "79.2",
            "101.2",
            "99.1",
            "108.2",
            "118.0"
        ],
        [
            "25.2",
            "29.2",
            "29.0",
            "29.4",
            "29.8"
        ],
        [
            "20.3",
            "23.8",
            "26.2",
            "24.8",
            "25.1"
        ]
    ],
    "ratioMargen": 0.1,
    "angleTick": "0",
    "angleTag": "0",
    "fillToZero": false,
    "colors": [
        "#457E76",
        "#A45C0A",
        "#0071AD",
        "#756F0F",
        "#C33C9D",
        "#677746"
    ],
    "config": {
        "marcaTick": {
            "color": "#9e1834"
        }
    }
}

Results by main economic activity

Of the mercantile companies incorporated in 2024, 17.9% were engaged in Trade and 16.7% were Property, financial and insurance companies. As for dissolved companies, 20.1% were Trade and 16.4% were Construction.

Results by Autonomous Communities

The communities with the highest number of mercantile companies incorporated in 2024 were Comunidad de Madrid (27,093), Cataluña (22,854) and Andalucía (20,085). On the other hand, La Rioja (430), Cantabria (897) and Comunidad Foral de Navarra (1,004) incorporated the lowest number of companies.

Meanwhile, the autonomous communities with the most dissolutions were: Comunidad de Madrid (7,559), Andalucía (4,325) and Cataluña (1,902). Those with the fewest dissolutions registered were Comunidad Foral de Navarra (75), La Rioja (182) and Cantabria (280).

Data revision and updating

The data for 2024 are provisional and will be reviewed when the data for the same period of 2025 are published. All the results of this operation are available at INEbase.

Methodological note

The Mercantile Companies Statistics were created by Order of 30 April 1938. Their objective is to measure the demographics of companies, providing monthly information, at provincial and Autonomous Community level, on the companies incorporated, dissolved and those in which there have been changes in capital.

The source of information is the Central Mercantile Registry, which collects all provincial information on the registration of companies and entrepreneurs, as well as mercantile acts determined by law.

Type of survey:: continuous monthly survey.
Population scope:: set of companies registered in the Central Mercantile Register.
Geographical scope:: the entire national territory, by Autonomous Communities and provinces.
Reference period of the results:: the calendar month.
Reference period of the information:: the calendar month.
Collection method:: official records.

More information on the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at the INE and the Code of Best Practice.