A solid rise in single-person businesses: more SMEs than ever before
February 2024 - There have never been so many SMEs in Belgium as last year. 1.3 million to be precise. Almost half of them are one-person businesses.
That things are going well for Belgian SMEs is shown by the annual SME barometer of data specialists Graydoncreditsafe and Unizo. At the end of last year, 1.3 million SMEs were active, a quarter more than a decade ago. More than half of them - 710,000 - are Flemish companies. The most popular sectors are services, construction, industry, shops and catering.
634,000 sole traders and freelancers
The growth in the number of SMEs is due to the boom in single-person businesses. In 2013, Flanders had half a million of them, today there are 634,000. Of all small and large businesses, nine out of ten do not employ anyone. A lot of freelancers are venturing out as a result of the tightness in the labour market and the growing number of people working side jobs.
The financial health of SMEs
A year ago, one in three SMEs in Belgium was through reserves financially, today it is still one in five. So the average Belgian SME is in better shape than a year ago, but there is still work to be done. One in five companies has too few buffers to continue running as it does today. This is mainly due to rising wage costs and interest rates, according to GraydonCreditsafe.
