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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. 2024
Industry Construction Services Total
Companies with establishments in Catalonia 32,884 68,523 509,935 611,342
Without wage earners 8,927 34,666 256,176 299,769
From 1 to 9 wage earners 16,844 30,205 228,701 275,750
From 10 to 49 wage earners 5,178 3,281 18,754 27,213
From 50 to 249 wage earners 1,397 305 4,426 6,128
250 or more employees 538 66 1,878 2,482
Establishments 39,957 78,604 585,986 704,547
Without wage earners 12,885 42,884 301,264 357,033
From 1 to 9 wage earners 19,571 32,181 252,335 304,087
From 10 to 49 wage earners 5,898 3,271 26,483 35,652
From 50 to 249 wage earners 1,392 247 5,094 6,733
250 or more employees 211 21 810 1,042
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 27, 2025.

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.