Between 2014 and 2024, a limited number of small businesses grew into medium or large companies. Especially in small businesses, many companies shrank in personnel. In 2024, fewer companies were founded and more companies were closed than in 2023. This means there was slightly less movement within the business population. This was reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) based on research for the State of the SME.
CBS distinguishes five types of companies in the business economy based on the number of employees: self-employed persons (zzp’ers), micro (2 to 10 employees), small (10 to 50), medium (50 to 250), and large companies (250 or more). A company can change size class. This happens if it grows and hires more staff, or shrinks and has fewer employees. A company can also grow or shrink without changing size class.

More SME Companies Move to Smaller Size Classes

Of the companies that were micro, small, or medium-sized in 2014, more shrank to another size class than grew. The difference between shrinkage and growth is greatest in small businesses. Of all 39,539 companies that belonged to the small business category in 2014, 16 percent had shrunk and over 7 percent had grown ten years later. Most companies remained stable. Within medium-sized businesses, more companies grew in number of employees than shrank. There was thus more dynamism within medium-sized businesses than outside.

Of the self-employed persons from 2014, 49 percent had disappeared by 2024 due to closure or takeover, for example. For large companies, this applied to 25 percent of companies.

Shrinkage
Stable
Disappeared
%