~/entreprendre-fr business demography · derived from Sirene · non-partisan · 31 August 2026

Doing business in France, read through the figures

A factual, dated, figures-based reading of French business demography: how many firms are created, in what form, how many fail, how many survive, and where. The aggregate statistics come from the Sirene register (INSEE) and business failures from Banque de France. One thread: never confuse creating, surviving and the stock of firms.

Neutrality note

This page is a reuse of public data for educational purposes. It expresses no political position and makes no forecast of its own. It presents official figures, distinguishing realised from provisional, and explicitly attributes private-firm estimates.

The essentials

2024-2025 framing · twin records

Realised

1,165,800

business creations 2025 (record, +5%)

Provisional

68,564

court failures 2025 (record, +3.5%)

Realised

5.8M

economically active firms (2023)

Realised

65.1%

micro-entrepreneur share of 2025 creations

Realised

69%

5-year survival (excl. micro, 2018 cohort)

Realised

+25%

transport & storage, top engine of creations

Business creations & micro-entrepreneurs

a double record

France keeps breaking records for business creation: 1,165,800 in 2025, after 1,111,200 in 2024. The micro-entrepreneur regime shapes this flow (65% of the total). Companies also grow and set a record; only classic sole proprietorships decline. A caveat: registering is not the same as actually operating.

Business creations (incl. micro-entrepreneurs)

INSEE (Sirene register). 2024 and 2025 realised. The scope includes some take-overs and changes, on a constant basis.

2025 creations by legal form

INSEE, Insee Première no. 2092. Classic sole proprietorships are at their lowest since 2012.

Key takeaway

Two thirds of creations are micro-entrepreneurs. Companies set a record (301,300), but classic sole proprietorships decline: the micro regime captures most of the momentum.

Business failures

a record, but slowing

Court-ordered insolvencies also hit a record in 2025 (68,564, Banque de France), but the rise is slowing sharply: +3.5% year on year, against +17.7% in 2024. The level is about 15% above the pre-Covid average. The deterioration is far more marked outside micro-firms.

Business failures, annual level

RealisedProvisional

Banque de France (receiverships + liquidations, excl. safeguard procedures). 2025 provisional (revised upward as court data comes in).

Gap to the 2010-2019 average, by size (2025)

Banque de France. Micro-firms make up 92% of failures by count, but the excess comes mainly from SMEs, mid-caps and large firms.

Sector breakdown of 2025 failures (%)

Banque de France. Altares (private firm) estimate: ~267,200 jobs at risk in 2025 (scope incl. safeguards, not published by Banque de France).

Key takeaway

68,564 failures in 2025, a record, but the rise is slowing (+3.5% after +17.7%). The gap to the pre-Covid norm is +68% for SMEs, mid-caps and large firms, versus +12% for micro-firms.

III

Survival & the business fabric

creating is not lasting

Creating a business does not guarantee lasting. Excluding micro-entrepreneurs, 69% of firms created in 2018 are still around five years later; among micro-entrepreneurs, only 28%. The fabric is ultra-atomised: 95.9% of micro-firms (by size) account for 17% of salaried employment, while about 7,340 mid-caps and large firms make 60% of value added.

Business survival rate (excl. micro, 2018 cohort)

INSEE, Sine survey. Share of firms created in the first half of 2018 still active, year after year.

Five-year survival by type (2018 cohort)

INSEE, Sine. Among micro-entrepreneurs, 39.3% survive to 5 years among those who actually started an activity.

Share of the number of firms (2023, %)

INSEE, Insee Focus no. 372 (size categories under French law). The inversion between count and value added sums up the atomisation of the fabric.

Share of value added (2023, %)

countvalue added

Key takeaway

At five years, 69% of firms remain excluding micro, but only 28% of micro-entrepreneurs. And 95.9% of micro-firms make just 16% of value added: the fabric is highly atomised.

Sectors & geography

where business happens

By volume, the top trio of 2024 creations is professional activities, retail and support services. But the engine of the rise is transport and storage (+25%), driven by delivery and above all micro-entrepreneurs. Geography is very concentrated: Île-de-France accounts for 28% of creations, and the top five regions nearly two thirds.

Business creations by sector (2024)

INSEE, Insee Première no. 2037. In orange: transport & storage, the top contributor to the rise (+25%).

Share of 2024 creations by region (%)

INSEE, regional economic reports. PACA and Occitanie shares are orders of magnitude.

Key takeaway

Transport & storage (+25%) is the top engine of the rise in creations. Geography stays very concentrated: Île-de-France alone accounts for 28% of creations.

Method & sources

reproducible · non-partisan

Data come from official aggregate statistics derived from INSEE's Sirene register (creations, demography, survival via the Sine survey, business fabric via Ésane) and from business failures published by Banque de France. Every figure carries its vintage and source; realised is distinguished from provisional.

Estimates from private firms (Altares) are explicitly attributed and never presented as official. The Sirene base itself is too large for raw processing here: this dashboard reuses the published aggregates, it does not re-publish the register.

Three clarifications for the reader

Micro-entrepreneur is not effective activity.

Registering as a micro-entrepreneur does not mean an activity has started: in the 2018 cohort, only 28% are still active at 5 years. And “micro-entrepreneur” (a regime, formerly auto-entrepreneur) is not “micro-firm” (a size category: fewer than 10 employees).

Creating, lasting and the stock are three different things.

The flow of creations (1.17M in 2025) is an inflow, not a net addition: exits must be subtracted. The stock of economically active firms (5.8M in 2023) is far smaller than the number of units registered in Sirene.

A failure is not every closure.

A failure (68,564 in 2025) is the opening of a receivership or judicial liquidation. It includes neither safeguard procedures nor, above all, administrative de-registrations (about 457,000 in 2025). Three perimeters never to add up: creations, administrative closures, court failures.

Official sources

Data compiled on 31 August 2026.

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