In 2022, of the 1 453 728 active enterprises in Portugal, 232 173 were born in that year, reflecting a growth of 24.1% compared to the previous year (+21.2% in 2021), surpassing the pre-pandemic level. In the same year, the number of deaths is estimated to have reached 150 661 enterprises (+5.2%), registering a lower growth rate than births. The proportion of enterprises surviving 1 year after birth stood at 75.5% (-0.2 p.p. compared to 2021) and those surviving 3 years after birth accounted for 48.5% (-0.6 p.p. compared to the previous year).

In 2022, new companies employed 265 507 people and generated 4 588 million euros in turnover, reflecting growth of 21.7% and 45.9% compared to the previous year. In net terms, the difference between births and deaths, there was a positive balance in the number of companies, persons employed and turnover.

From the 488 807 non-financial companies in activity in 2022, 42 577 had started activity in that year, +9.5% compared to the previous year, corresponding to a birth rate of 8.7% (+0.4 p.p. compared to 2021). The number of deaths of non-financial companies is estimated to have been 19 970, 19.4% less than in 2021, corresponding to a mortality rate of 4.1% (-1.2 p.p. compared to the previous year).

In 2022 there were 5 635 high-growth companies, 5.3% more than in the previous year, representing 10.7% of all non-financial companies with 10 or more employees, 16.2% of persons employed, 12.6% of turnover and 14.4% of gross value added (GVA).

The number of high-growth young non-financial companies, known as gazelles, increased by 10.8% in 2022, contrary to the trend observed in recent years (-3.8% in 2021 and -13.6% in 2020), totalling 614 companies. The gazelles as a whole were responsible for a GVA of 1 132 million euros, more 292 million euros, corresponding to 1.2% of all non-financial companies with 10 or more employees (+0.1 p.p. compared to the previous year).

See the infographic