TOP 10 Countries by Business Birth Rate (2025)

Business demography has moved to the centre of policy debates in 2025. Governments track not only how many firms exist, but how many are born, how many die, and how long they survive. A dynamic economy shows healthy new firm formation, but also substantial churn as less productive firms exit and resources shift to more innovative businesses.

How “business birth rate” is measured

Most official statistics follow the Eurostat–OECD Manual on Business Demography Statistics. In this framework, the business (enterprise) birth rate is defined as the number of newly created enterprises in a year divided by the number of active enterprises in that year, expressed as a percentage. Business “deaths” are permanent closures, excluding mergers or restructurings.

TOP 10 countries by business birth rate (2025 snapshot)

Instead of treating 2025 as a single data point, it is more realistic to look at a multi-year window. Countries that repeatedly show high enterprise birth rates, strong new business density or vibrant start-up ecosystems are likely to remain in the global “top tier” in 2025 as well.

1. Lithuania – high birth rate, high churn

Eurostat data show that Lithuania regularly posts the highest enterprise birth rate in the EU, with values close to or above 19% of active enterprises in pre-pandemic years and similarly high rates at regional level. At the same time, its enterprise death rate is also elevated, indicating intense firm churn and relatively low long-term survival compared with countries like Sweden or the Netherlands.

2. Malta – small economy, very high start-up intensity

For a number of years, Malta has combined a high enterprise birth rate (above 16% of active enterprises in some years) with a strong presence of foreign-owned and digitally oriented firms. This reflects both genuine entrepreneurial activity and the role of Malta as a registration hub. High entry is offset by comparatively high exit, so policymakers focus on improving quality and survival rather than further boosting the raw number of births.

3. Portugal – strong firm creation, weaker survival

Portugal frequently ranks near the top of EU enterprise birth-rate tables, with values in the mid-teens compared with an EU average around 10%. However, Eurostat business demography shows that Portugal’s five-year enterprise survival rate is among the lowest in the EU, around one-third for some cohorts. That combination of high entry and low survival is classic “high churn”: many new firms appear, but only a minority grow into sustainable employers.

4. Latvia – vibrant entry on a small base

Latvia also records enterprise birth rates above 16% in several years, placing it firmly among the EU’s most dynamic business demography profiles. As in Lithuania and Portugal, elevated death rates mean churn is high: new firms frequently enter sectors such as trade, transport and professional services, but competitive pressure forces many to exit within a few years.

5. United Kingdom – high birth rates with strong regional contrasts

UK business demography releases show an enterprise birth rate broadly around 11–12% in recent years, above the EU average, with hotspots like London recording rates above 12%. At the same time, the business death rate has crept above the birth rate nationally, signalling a maturing cycle after the post-2010 start-up boom. In 2025, the UK remains a high-birth, high-churn economy, especially in services and digital sectors.

6. Ireland – moderate birth rate, low recorded deaths

Ireland’s official enterprise birth rate is lower than some neighbours, but still healthy. What stands out is a historically low recorded enterprise death rate, reflecting the specific structure of its economy (presence of large multinational affiliates) and its business-register methodology. When combined with high-growth export sectors, this produces a profile where firm creation is steady and measured death rates are relatively limited, supporting net growth in the stock of enterprises.

7. Estonia – digital-first entrepreneurship

Estonia’s digital infrastructure, e-government and e-residency regime have boosted its international reputation for start-ups and made business formation administratively easy. Enterprise birth rates tend to be above the EU average, particularly in ICT and professional services. Survival patterns show that while many micro-start-ups fail, a visible subset of firms scale rapidly, especially in software and digital platforms.

8. Israel – high new business density

World Bank “new business density” statistics, which measure new registrations per 1,000 working-age people, show Israel near the global top. Combined with a very active venture capital market, this points to strong new firm formation dynamics, particularly in technology. Firm churn is substantial; young firms in Israel face intense competition, but survivors often become global players.

9. United States – large base, strong entry in certain sectors

The US has a massive business population, so even moderate birth rates translate into hundreds of thousands of new firms each year. World Bank density figures and research on business dynamism confirm that start-up activity remains strong in technology, professional services, logistics and health-related sectors, even as some traditional industries show declining entry. Studies highlight a long-term slowdown in dynamism relative to the 1980s–1990s, but entry and exit still play a critical role in reallocating resources.

10. Canada – stable, mid-high birth rates with moderate churn

Canada’s business-demography profile shows enterprise birth and death rates somewhat above those of continental Europe but below the most extreme high-churn countries. Provincial data reveal active firm creation in services and construction, alongside relatively solid survival among established SMEs. Policy efforts focus on raising productivity of new firms and helping them cross the “valley of death” from micro-enterprise to employer status.

Firm churn and survival: why high birth rates are not always “good”

It is tempting to interpret a high business birth rate as unambiguously positive. In reality, policymakers watch the whole firm-life-cycle:

• High birth + high death = strong churn. This may signal experimentation and innovation, but can also indicate a fragile business environment or “necessity entrepreneurship”.
• Moderate birth + moderate death + high survival = more stable demography. This can reflect barriers to entry, but also a mature, resilient SME sector.
• Low birth + low death = stability but potentially low dynamism, with fewer new firms challenging incumbents.

Eurostat’s five-year survival data show that in some cohorts, less than half of newly born enterprises survive to their fifth birthday. Countries like Sweden and the Netherlands combine moderate birth rates with relatively high survival, while some high-birth countries such as Portugal and Lithuania exhibit much lower long-term survival, underscoring that raw birth rates must be read together with churn and survival indicators.

Using business demography 2025 indicators in practice

For analysts, “business demography 2025” is not just about ranking countries. It is about understanding how entry, exit and survival interact with productivity, innovation and employment:

• Investors can use high birth-rate locations to source early-stage deal flow, while also tracking survival to identify ecosystems that support scaling, not just founding.
• Policy makers balance support for new start-ups with measures that improve survival and growth: access to finance, skills, digital infrastructure, and efficient insolvency regimes.
• Entrepreneurs can benchmark their home country against others: a high-churn environment may offer more opportunities but also more competitive pressure and shorter runways.

Ultimately, a healthy economy needs not only many new firms, but also a pipeline of survivors that grow, innovate and create jobs. The countries highlighted above illustrate different paths to that goal: some rely on very high entry and creative destruction; others emphasise stability and long-term survival.

Summary table: business birth rate, churn and survival (stylised view)

The table below provides a stylised summary of the “Top 10” countries’ business demography profiles as of the mid-2020s, combining birth-rate evidence with firm-churn and survival patterns.

Stylised business demography profiles for selected high-birth-rate or high-density countries (mid-2020s).

Country	Enterprise birth rate / new business density	Firm churn & survival pattern
Lithuania	Top of EU league tables; enterprise birth rate close to or above 19% of active firms in several pre-2020 years and remaining high regionally.	High death rate; relatively low five-year survival, indicating intense churn and rapid reallocation.
Malta	Birth rate above 16% in some years; strong role of foreign-owned and digital businesses.	Significant entry and exit; policy focus on quality and sustainability of new firms.
Portugal	Enterprise birth rate well above EU average, around mid-teens.	Very low five-year survival in EU comparisons; high churn and relatively fragile cohorts.
Latvia	Birth rates above 16% in some years; dynamic small economy.	High entry and notable exit, especially in trade and services.
United Kingdom	Birth rate around 11–12% nationally; London shows even higher rates.	Recent years show death rate slightly above birth rate; still high churn with strong regional contrasts.
Ireland	Moderate birth rate; strong presence of multinational affiliates and high-value sectors.	Relatively low recorded death rate; net growth in employer firms, though methodology matters.
Estonia	Above-average enterprise birth rates, especially in ICT and services, helped by digital administration.	Many micro-start-ups exit early; survivors in digital sectors scale quickly.
Israel	High new business density per 1,000 working-age people, according to World Bank data.	Strong churn in tech; survivors often integrate into global value chains.
United States	Large absolute number of births and solid new business density, with strong sectoral variation.	Evidence of declining dynamism over decades but still substantial entry and exit, especially in services.
Canada	Mid-high birth rates by OECD standards; active firm creation in services and construction.	Moderate churn; policy emphasis on helping viable new firms survive and grow.

Further reading and data sources

Official business-demography and entrepreneurship datasets used for this 2025 snapshot include:

• Eurostat – Business demography statistics
• Eurostat – Key figures on European business: business dynamics
• Key figures on European business – 2024 edition
• World Bank – New business density (new registrations per 1,000 people aged 15–64)
• ONS (UK) – Business demography