Business start-ups at their highest level since 2010

In 2017, 591,000 businesses were created in France, 7% more than in 2016. Business creations reached their highest level since 2010. Registrations of micro-entrepreneurs increased (+9%) more than creations of traditional sole proprietorships (+6%) and companies (+5%). The number of traditional business start-ups (349,000) is still at the highest level ever measured by INSEE. With a 14% increase in business start-ups, the specialized activities sector far outstripped those of trade. Creations in the scientific and technical sectors are the first to contribute to this overall increase, due in particular to consulting activities under the micro-entrepreneur regime, which places them at the top of the number of business creations.

This is true for all types of businesses in almost all regions.

Excluding micro-entrepreneurs, only 7% of companies are employed at the time of their creation. They start their activity with 2.6 employees on average.

Sole proprietors are getting younger; in 2017, 37% were under 30 years old. The share of female creators is holding steady at 40%.