Number of companies that open is higher than those that close in RJ, but closures grew 27% last year, says study | Rio de Janeiro

A study shows that the number of companies opened in Rio in the last 2 years is at a much higher level than those that close their doors, although the number of closed enterprises increased by 27.3% between 2022 and last year.

Among the main points of the survey “The Paths of the Fluminense Economy”, by the Club of Retail Directors of Rio in partnership with Sindilojas Rio are:

• Between 2019-2023 almost 3x more businesses were opened than closed
• Rio had a 0.4% increase in open companies last year, but 27.3% growth in closed ones
• The majority of open companies are owned by individual microentrepreneurs (MEI)
• Mortality is considered high, although the number of business openings is greater than closures
• The types of businesses that open the most and close the most

According to the study, which analyzed the panorama of the opening and closing of companies in the last 5 years, in 2023, 283,249 companies were opened, a number 0.4% higher than that recorded in 2022. The survey was carried out based on data from the Commercial Board of State of Rio.

There were 159,095 closed companies in 2023, compared to 125,573 in 2022.

As a result of the Covid pandemic, 2020 corresponded to the lowest number of business openings in Rio de Janeiro.

The post-pandemic economic recovery increased the creation of companies, especially in 2022, an increase of 84.0% over 2021, a level almost three times higher than in 2020; and positioned slightly above 2019.

In total, between 2019-2023, 1,077,262 new businesses were opened, while 393,330 enterprises were closed.

In relative terms, the biggest variation occurred in 2022 (177.9%) with 125,573 production units closed.

According to the study, the mortality rate of companies in Rio de Janeiro is high if one considers in 2023 that 15.3% did not survive a year; 59.8% managed to operate for up to 5 years; and that in the range of 6 to 10 years, volume of 15.9% failed. Adding up the numbers, 91.10% of the companies that were opened lived for up to 10 years in the Rio de Janeiro economy; with a very representative percentage of 59.8% ranging between 1 and 5 years of life.

The study also shows that the opening of companies in the State of Rio de Janeiro is concentratedly linked to the MEI (Individual Microentrepreneur).

The number of MEIs has been growing since 2020, reaching the level of 231,877 new registrations in 2023. This business category represented 81.86% of the total number of companies established last year.

The second most demanded category corresponded to the limited liability company, with 49,538 businesses started in 2023, corresponding to 17.49% of the total number of CNPJs opened. The limited liability company has variants.

According to the study, among the most common types of businesses opened in 2023 are those in the retail sector (53,361) followed by the food sector (22,011).

The most common closures last year were also companies in the retail sector (38,614), followed by those in the food sector (14,071).