Establishments
Updated: 16 January 2025
Next update: 12 January 2026
| 2025 | 2024 - 2025 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of establishments | Per cent | Change in per cent | |
| All size groups | 657 993 | 100.0 | 0.2 |
| No one employeed | 450 559 | 68.5 | 0.6 |
| 1-4 employees | 102 882 | 15.6 | -0.5 |
| 5-9 employees | 40 336 | 6.1 | -1.6 |
| 10-19 employees | 30 884 | 4.7 | -0.6 |
| 20-49 employees | 22 290 | 3.4 | 1.1 |
| 50-99 employees | 6 981 | 1.1 | 0.8 |
| 100 - 249 employees | 3 094 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| 250 employees and more | 967 | 0.1 | 1.5 |
More figures from this statistics
About the statistics
The statistics show active companies as of January 1, broken down by region, industry and sector. It provides a good and up-to-date picture of where value is created in the Norwegian society, and all industries and sectors are included.
The information under «About the statistics» was last updated 24 January 2025.
Establishment
An establishment is defined as a local kind-of-activity unit (production unit) which mainly operates within a particular industry group, in accordance with the Norwegian Standard Industry Classification (SN2007).
Employees / Wage earners
An employee/employee is a person who works in the service of another for wages or other remuneration.
Industry
The industrial activity is grouped according to the Standard Industrial Classification SN2007 in Statistics Norway, which is based on the EU standard NACE Rev.1.
Sector
The establishment's sector affiliation follows the enterprise's sector, and is grouped according to the Standard Classification of Institutional Sector.
Number of establishments
Name: Establishments
Topic: Establishments, enterprises and accounts
Division for Technology, R&D and Business Dynamics Statistics
National, county and municipality
Frequency: Annual
Timeliness: Normally within 1 month of the end of the year
Not relevant
Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.
Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.
The basic data is quality assured in the ongoing management of Statistics Norway's business register and the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities (CCR), as well as in the preparation of the primary statistics they are included in (register-based labor market statistics, accounting statistics, etc.).
Purpose
The purpose of the statistics is to provide an updated picture of where production in Norway takes place. It shows which regions, industries, sectors and size groups the establishments - i.e. the local production units - are located in, and follows the development over time.
History
The statistics were first published on 1 July 2002, with figures for the second quarter of the same year. Until the fourth quarter of 2008, the statistics were published quarterly. Since 2009, they have been published annually, with figures corresponding to the first quarter for the years up to 2008.
In 2009, the industry standard was changed, and in 2014 the sector standard was changed. At the same time, old time series were closed and new ones were started.
Users of the statistics include public administration, educational institutions, research groups, business and the media.
No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.
The figures in the establishment statistics are similar to figures for subunits in the Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities (CCR) and establishments in the Structural Business Statistics (SBS), but there are also important differences. They are also to some extent related to the figures in the Business demography.
Establishments in Statistics Norway's establishment statistics correspond to subunits in CCR, and both are comprehensive within their purposes. The deviation from CCR is mainly due to the fact that CCR includes all subunits, including those that do not conduct business activities. In addition, CCR includes subunits that do not have economic activity, but that have not been deleted from the register.
The deviation from SBS is due to the fact that the establishment statistics include newly registered establishments that have not yet reported to Statistics Norway's statistics, and not all of these become active and are included in SBS. Furthermore, the establishment statistics include all industries and sectors, while SBS lacks establishments that do not conduct market-oriented business activities (including public administration) and the primary industries. Until 2020, education, human health and social services, arts, entertainment and recreation, as well as activities in member organizations were also not included in SBS. In addition, the establishment statistics measure the population as of 1 January, while SBS has the entire year as the measurement period.
In the business demography (enterprise statistics), it is the enterprise, i.e. the main unit, that is counted. There may be several establishments, i.e. subunits, per enterprise. At the same time, there are certain types of enterprises that do not have establishments. Overall, this means that the number of establishments is somewhat higher than the number of enterprises, but it can vary between industries. However, in business demography, certain industries and sectors are excluded, similar to SBS. See "About the statistics" in the business demography for a more detailed description of, among other things, permanently and temporarily excluded industries.
The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).
Not relevant
Annual series from 2009 onwards.
Closed quarterly series from 2nd quarter 2002 to 4th quarter 2008.
The statistics include all active establishments in Norway. Completely new establishments are also considered active, until we have sources that say whether they are active or not.
Special units, a type of "artificial" establishments in Statistics Norway's Business Register (BR), are excluded. These units do not meet all requirements to be regarded establishments in the industrial standard SN2007 and they have no reported employees, as any employees are reported on real establishments representing their working place. They are created in BR to improve distribution by region or to count other units than establishments in certain statistics.
A small group of establishments belonging to enterprises with a legal form that indicates that they are not engaged in production is also excluded.
Statistics Norway's Business Register (BR) is the main source. Situation files from the beginning of January in the reference year are used. These files include figures for employees from "A-ordningen", the main register on employment data in Norway used in among others the register-based employment statistics, for October of the previous year.
Data from the Structural Business Statistics (SBS) and administrative registers for value added tax, accounting data and tax returns for self-employed persons are used to exclude actually closed establishments from the population.
The establishment statistics are based exclusively on the reuse of edited data from other statistics and administrative registers. Editing is defined here as checking, examining and amending data.
BR is a comprehensive and edited register with regard to scope and basic data. There is an ongoing data exchange between CCR and BR, and direct contact is made with businesses if incorrect information is suspected.
The information is also edited during data collection for SBS and other Statistics Norway statistics, and by linking with administrative registers in the monitoring system for establishments in BR.
Not relevant
Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.
Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.
Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.
More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.
From the start in the second quarter of 2002 to the fourth quarter of 2008, the statistics were published quarterly at the beginning of the quarter, with figures for employees as of the first month of the previous quarter.
In the quarterly publications up to 2008, changes (new establishments and deleted establishments) were registered in relation to the previous quarter. The changes between quarters were uncertain, since these often referred to changes that occurred earlier, while changes that actually occurred in the quarter were only registered later.
Starting in January 2009, the statistics are published once a year, at the beginning of the first quarter. These annual figures can therefore be compared with the quarterly figures for the first quarter up to 2008.
From the same year, the statistics are published according to a new industry standard (SN2007). New tables with 2009 as the starting year were established, and the old series based on SN2002 were closed.
From 2012, the statistics are published by sector. A new table with 2012 as the starting year was established, based on the new sector division that was established that same year.
In 2016, there were changes in the data base for employees. In the new data source "A-ordningen", the number of employees is reported every month, not only when there are changes as in the previous "AA-register". This means that employers who have not reported are now left with zero employees. It is therefore unclear whether the decrease in the number of companies with employees from 2015 to 2016 is real or due to changes in the data base.
All sectors
Annual
Closed timeseries (2002-2008): Quarter
The establishment statistics are based on statistical and administrative registers. This may cause register errors.
A possible register error is outdated information as a result of a lag in registrations, i.e. changes are registered some time after they have occurred. The industry code is a typical example, as in some cases this is registered or corrected retrospectively based on feedback in connection with data collection or by linking to administrative registers. The extent of establishments with unknown industry provides an indication of the lag, and since 2020 this extent has increased.
Some enterprises are incompletely divided into establishments by location and industry (establishments that actually operate physically separate activities may be registered with only one establishment).
Not relevant
