SME Research and Statistics

  • Key Small Business Statistics — June 2016
  • Canadian New Firms: Birth and Survival Rates over the Period 2002–2014, May 2018
  • contribution to Canadian Net Employment Change
  • A Comparison of the Performance of Female-Owned and Male-Owned Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises — November 2016
  • Comparing Measures of High-Growth Enterprises: A Canadian Case Study — February 2017

Latest report releases

SME in Canada

  • Definition
    Small: 1-99 employees;
    Medium: 100‑499 employees;
    Large: 500 employees and more;
  • Number of businesses with employees on payroll in 2015
    Small: 1,143,630 (97.9%)
    Medium: 21,415 (1.8%)
    Large: 2,933 (0.3%)
    Total: 1,167,978

    Source: Statistics Canada, Business Register, December 2015
  • Number of private sector employees in 2015
    Small: 8,167,701 (70.5%)
    Medium: 2,293,057 (19.8%)
    Large: 1,130,134 (9.8%)
    Total: 11,590,892

    Sources: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (LFS); and calculations by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
  • Debt financing requests by SMEs in 2015
    Request rate: 23.0%
    Approval rate: 88.0%

    Source: Credit Conditions Survey, 2015
  • Contribution to gross domestic product (GDP)
    Small businesses account for about 30 percent of Canada's GDP, while medium-sized businesses account for 9 percent

    Source: KSBS

Latest releases or updates

Key Small Business Statistics

June 2016

Special Edition

Financing Statistics–
November 2013

Special Edition

Majority Female-Owned Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises–
May 2015

Determinants of Entrepreneurship in Canada: State of Knowledge Updated:

Contents
Released:

Section 1
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Section 2
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Section 3
Released:

Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing

2017 Data Survey Results

Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises

2014 Data Survey Results

Credit Conditions Survey

2016 Data Survey Results

Analysis

Credit Condition Trends 2009–2016

Venture Capital Monitor
Q4 2014

Financial Performance Data
2013 data

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