Ministry of SMEs and Startups

No. of Korean SMEs & Employees by Year

(Unit: No. of Firms and Persons and Ratio %, As of 2021)

No. of Korean SMEs & Employees by Year - Total (A), SMEs (B), Ratio (B/A,), No. of Firms, No. of Employees, No. of Firms, No. of Employees, No. of Firms, No. of Employees
	Total (A)		SMEs (B)		Ratio (B/A)
	No. of Firms	No. of Employees	No. of Firms	No. of Employees	No. of Firms	No. of Employees
'00	2,729,957	10,768,597	2,707,805	8,680,694	99.2	80.6
'01	2,658,860	10,876,418	2,649,691	9,176,237	99.7	84.4
'02	2,861,830	11,737,640	2,856,913	10,154,095	99.8	86.5
'03	2,939,661	11,870,358	2,934,897	10,308,574	99.8	86.8
'04	2,927,436	11,824,074	2,922,533	10,210,629	99.8	86.4
'05	2,867,749	11,902,400	2,863,583	10,449,182	99.9	87.8
'06	2,940,345	12,234,160	2,936,114	10,677,789	99.9	87.3
'07	2,976,646	12,612,692	2,974,185	11,149,134	99.9	88.4
'08	3,046,958	13,070,424	3,044,169	11,467,713	99.9	87.7
'09	3,069,400	13,398,497	3,066,484	11,751,022	99.9	87.7
'10	3,125,457	14,135,234	3,122,332	12,262,535	99.9	86.8
'11	3,234,687	14,534,230	3,231,634	12,626,746	99.9	86.9
'12	3,354,320	14,891,162	3,351,404	13,059,372	99.9	87.7
'13	3,418,993	15,344,860	3,415,863	13,421,594	99.9	87.5
'14	3,545,473	15,962,745	3,542,350	14,027,636	99.9	87.9
'15	5,893,802	19,259,827	5,889,611	16,032,404	99.9	83.2
'16	6,085,434	19,635,071	6,080,914	16,361,595	99.9	83.3
'17	6,301,013	20,094,913	6,296,210	16,689,525	99.9	83.1
'18	6,643,756	20,591,641	6,638,694	17,103,938	99.9	83.1
'19	6,893,706	21,076,852	6,888,435	17,439,595	99.9	82.7
'20	7,295,451	21,935,003	7,286,082	17,791,969	99.9	81.1
'21	7,723,867	22,865,491	7,713,895	18,492,614	99.9	80.9

Source : National Statistical Office(2021)

No. of Korean SMEs & Employees by Industry

(Unit : No. of Firms and Persons and Ratio %, As of 2021)

No. of Korean SMEs & Employees by Industry - Total (A), SMEs (B), Ratio (B/A,), No. of Firms, No. of Employees, No. of Firms, No. of Employees, No. of Firms, No. of Employees
		Total (A)		SMEs (B)		Ratio (B/A)
		No. of Firms	No. of Employees	No. of Firms	No. of Employees	No. of Firms	No. of Employees
All	Industries	7,723,867	22,865,491	7,713,895	18,492,614	(99.9)	(80.9)
A	Agricul tu re, For estry & Fishery	102,625	168,241	102,553	164,825	(99.9)	(98.0)
B	Mining	2,540	12,277	2,527	11,112	(99.5)	(90.5)
C	Manufacturing	620,252	4,904,948	617,517	3,381,762	(99.6)	(68.9)
D	Electricity, Gas, Steam & Water	125,805	172,512	125,618	132,582	(99.9)	(76.9)
E	Sewer/Waste Treatment, Raw Material Reproduction & Environmental Restoration	12,766	104,204	12,667	93,524	(99.2)	(89.8)
F	Construction	550,499	2,176,216	549,913	1,883,822	(99.9)	(86.6)
G	Wholesale & Retail	1,936,683	4,087,243	1,935,153	3,624,178	(99.9)	(88.7)
H	Transportation	645,701	1,339,571	645,272	1,123,376	(99.9)	(83.9)
I	Accommodation & Restaurants	869,724	1,931,321	869,558	1,764,391	(100.0)	(91.4)
J	Publishing, Video, Broadcasting and Information Service	170,303	927,534	169,497	617,558	(99.5)	(66.6)
K	Finance & Insurance	60,732	781,483	59,791	156,556	(98.5)	(20.0)
L	Real Estate & Rental	1,272,816	1,609,981	1,271,654	1,538,504	(99.9)	(95.6)
M	Specialized, Science & Technical Service	283,751	1,081,581	283,261	954,924	(99.8)	(88.3)
N	Business Facility Management & Business Support Service	176,471	1,509,816	175,996	1,070,552	(99.7)	(70.9)
P	EducationService	254,316	437,576	254,254	411,127	(100.0)	(94.0)
Q	Health & Social Welfare	81,756	704,304	81,733	694,028	(100)	(98.5)
R	Art, Sports & Leisure-related Service	155,203	293,605	155,058	266,864	(99.9)	(90.9)
S	Repair & Other Individual Service	401,924	623,078	401,873	602,929	(100.0)	(96.8)

Source : National Statistical Office(2021)

Trend of Business Start-ups

(Unit : No. of Firms, As of 2023)

Trend of Business Start-ups - '11, '12, '13, '14, '15, '16
	'11	'12	'13	'14	'15	'16
Acquisition of New Corporations	65,110	74,162	75,574	84,697	93,768	96,155
Manufacturing	15,557	17,733	18,721	19,509	20,155	19,037

Trend of Business Start-ups - '17, '18, '19
	'17	'18	'19	'20	'21	'22	'23
Acquisition of New Corporations	98,330	102,042	1,285,259	1,484,667	1,417,973	1,317,479	1,238,617
Manufacturing	20,629	18,954	52,317	49,928	47,989	41,595	37,280

Source : MSS

※ Due to the changes in the way statistics are compiled since 2019, it is difficult to simply compare to the figures before 2018.
(2011~2018 : only incorporated companies, 2019~ : both incorporated companies and individual proprietorships)

Business Ventures and Inno-Biz