Number of Businesses in New Zealand Up 24 Percent from 1997
The number of non-farming businesses increased by 24 percent between February 1997 and February 2002 according to
Statistics New Zealand. As at February 2002, there were 281,339 non-farming businesses with GST turnover over $30,000
per year. These businesses engaged approximately 1,468,000 full-time equivalent employees, which was an increase of 10
percent from 1997.
Small business contributed most of the increase in the number of businesses, with the number of non-employing businesses
increasing from 127,774 in 1997 to 177,961 in 2002.
The property and business services industry had the largest number of enterprises in February 2002 (91,584), engaging
over 193,000 full-time equivalent persons. The manufacturing industry was the largest employer with approximately
247,000 full-time equivalent persons engaged as at February 2002.
The number of businesses with 1 percent or more foreign ownership has increased by 12 percent from 6,111 in February
1997 to 6,849 in February 2002. Businesses that had 1 percent or more foreign ownership engaged approximately 296,000
full-time equivalent employees as at February 2002, up 6 percent from 1997.
The Auckland region is New Zealand's largest in terms of the number of non-farming business locations (108,789), and
full-time equivalent employees (approximately 511,000). By comparison, the number of non-farming business locations in
the South Island was 71,153, engaging approximately 350,000 full-time equivalent employees.
Brian Pink
Government Statistician