Informations Rapides · 18 April 2025 · n° 95

Business births declined again in March 2025  Enterprise births - March 2025

In March 2025, the total number of business births – all types of businesses combined and seasonally and working-day adjusted – declined once again (for the fourth consecutive month), and more sharply than the previous month (-1.3% after -0.8% in February). Conventional business births fell back (-2.5% after +1.1%), and registrations of individual businesses under the micro-entrepreneur status continued to decrease (-0.6% after -1.8%). In raw data, the total number of businesses created over the past twelve months (from April 2024 to March 2025) rose by 1.7% compared to the same period one year earlier (April 2023 to March 2024). This overall increase, however, hides a sharp drop in the creation of traditional sole proprietorships, which fell by 11.2% over the same period.

In March 2025, seasonally and working-day adjusted, business births fell sharply again in the transportation and storage sector, more markedly than in the previous month (‑8.9% after ‑3.1%). Business births also declined for the fourth consecutive month in the industry sector, with a significant drop in March (‑12.1% after ‑2.1%). In particular, they plummeted in electricity production, likely related to regulatory changes affecting photovoltaic electricity resale schemes, notably the reduction in the surplus buy-back tariff and the investment premium; indeed, individuals with installations exceeding 3 kW in capacity are required to register a business as soon they sell all or part of the electricity they produce. Business births fell for the third consecutive month in the manufacturing industry (‑4.8% after ‑3.2%). They decreased again in trade, including the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (‑1.7% after ‑2.9%). In contrast, they continued to rise, although at a slower pace than in the previous month, in business support activities (+1.1% after +3.6%) and rebounded in education, health and social work activities (+4.8% after ‑4.3%).

In raw data, the cumulative number of business births from January to March 2025 fell by 2.9% compared to the same period one year earlier. Conventional sole proprietorships tumbled clearly (-17.4%), registrations of individual businesses under the micro-entrepreneur status decreased (-1.6%), while company births were stable.

Over this period, the sector contributing the most to the overall decline was construction (-3,600 business births compared to the same period one year earlier, representing a contribution* of -1.2 percentage points). Within this sector, business births fell particularly in “electrical installation work in all types of premises” (-600 business births year on year). In contrast, and despite their monthly decline, business births in the transportation and storage sector increased compared to the same period one year earlier (+4,300 business births).

In raw data, the total number of businesses created over the past twelve months (from April 2024 to March 2025) increased by 1.7% year on year. Registrations of individual businesses under the micro-entrepreneur status rose (+3.4%), as did company births (+2.9%), while conventional sole proprietorships declined sharply (‑11.2%).

For February 2025, the monthly change in total business births (all types of businesses combined) has been revised downward by 0.3 percentage points, due to the revision of raw data and the update of seasonal and working-day adjustment coefficients (SA-WDA). It now stands at ‑0.8%, compared to ‑0.5% in the previous release.