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Companies and establishments as of 1 January. By activity sectors and number of wage earners

Companies and establishments as of 1 January. By activity sectors and number of wage earners Catalonia. 2025
Industry Construction Services Total
Companies with establishments in Catalonia 32,144 68,664 517,973 618,781
Without wage earners 9,400 37,182 296,319 342,901
From 1 to 9 wage earners 15,713 27,922 196,329 239,964
From 10 to 49 wage earners 5,069 3,165 18,856 27,090
From 50 to 249 wage earners 1,395 326 4,499 6,220
250 or more employees 567 69 1,970 2,606
Establishments 39,140 78,998 595,367 713,505
Without wage earners 13,351 45,765 343,821 402,937
From 1 to 9 wage earners 18,322 29,734 218,867 266,923
From 10 to 49 wage earners 5,830 3,208 26,616 35,654
From 50 to 249 wage earners 1,414 268 5,220 6,902
250 or more employees 223 23 843 1,089
Source: Idescat, based on the INE's Central companies directory (DIRCE).
Notes:
From the reference date of 1 January 2019, the concept of a company changed from the legal unit to the statistical unit. Consequently, that year's results are not strictly comparable with those of previous years.
The new definition of economically active company affects the calculation of the number of companies and establishments; therefore, the data as of 1 January 2023 are not comparable with those of previous years.

Last update: February 26, 2026.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Company
The smallest combination of legal units constituting an organisational unit for the production of goods or services, one having certain autonomy in terms of decision-making, principally for allocating the resources it has at its disposal.
Establishment
Company (or part of a company) located in a specific geographical location at which economic activities are conducted on behalf of the company.

Methodological aspects

Information is offered on the Statistics on companies and establishments that Idescat produceson the basis of the Central Companies Directory (DIRCE) published by the INE. This operation presents the number of companies and establishments with activity in Catalonia in accordance with different criteria: by activity sectors, by legal status and by number of wage-earners. The DIRCE covers all economic activities except agricultural production and fishing, central, regional and local Administration's administrative services (including social services), the activities of property owner groups and domestic services.

It should be considered that in these statistics, when classifying companies by activity sector and number of wage-earners, reference is made to the sector and wage-earners in the company as a whole (if the company has wage-earners outside of Catalonia, they are also included).

Until the 2018 reference year, the concept of the company was coterminous with the legal unit, but it changed from 2019 on. The new statistical concept of the company has to do with the company's organisational structure, autonomy of decision and market orientation. To sum up, the economic factors of units are prioritised over a traditional vision, which is more orientated at legal aspects. The legal units that do not form part of groups of companies continue to be considered companies in their own right.

The new definition of economically active company, after Regulation 2019/2152 on European business statistics (EBS) and Implementing Regulation 2020/1197 came into force, affects the calculation of the number of companies and establishments; therefore, the data as of 1 January 2023 are not comparable with those of previous years.

For further information about these statistics, you may check the methodology.