Catalonia is the Spanish region that created the most companies in 2016
A quarter of all new companies set up in Spain last year were registered in Catalonia, with a return to 2008 levels
MadridCatalonia was the region which saw the highest number of new corporations last year, an achievement it usually competes for with the Madrid region. According to the latest figures released by the Spanish Association of Registrars, 21,950 new businesses were set up in Catalonia in 2016, representing an increase of 16.4%. This is double the Spanish average, which rose by 7.8% compared to 2015, with 102,396 new companies registered. In addition, according to the same figures, a quarter of the new companies founded in Spain were registered in Catalonia.
For Spain as a whole, this growth represents a key milestone following the economic crisis, since for the first time since 2008 the number of new businesses has exceeded 100,000. Nevertheless, Spain is still far from the record high it reached in 2006, just before the bubble burst, when the figure reached 150,000. Catalonia is in a similar position, since it is still far from the nearly 28,000 new companies registered in 2006, though it has exceeded the total of 20,000 that it failed to reach in 2008, when just over 19,000 businesses were created, a figure that fell to 15,000 in 2009.
New businesses are, therefore, being set up at an increasing rate throughout Spain, but in 2016 more companies were registered in Catalonia than in Madrid, the opposite of what happened in 2015. In fact, the autonomous region which is home to Spain’s capital — standing in second place— has not improved when compared to last year, remaining stagnant at 20,060 new firms; meanwhile, Catalonia registered just over 18,850 businesses in 2015. Nonetheless, Catalonia did not see the highest level of growth, being surpassed by regions such La Rioja (39%), Aragon (31%) and Cantabria (25%). A total of 14 communities managed to increase the registration of new companies.
A declining last quarter
The Association of Registrars also pointed out that the final quarter was the worst in the whole fiscal year. While overall the year was positive for Spain as a whole, in the last three months the registration of new firms fell 4% more than in the same period of 2015, ending a run of six consecutive months of growth. According to Ana del Valle, the Association’s director of the Coordination Service for Company Registrations, the decrease may have been caused by a "temporary blip". Del Valle would not go as far as calling it a trend without monitoring developments in the coming years. Meanwhile, José Meléndez Pineda, director of the Association’s Centre for Statistical Processes, stated that the situation is positive and "normal" at present. Catalonia was among the autonomous regions which experienced a decline also in the third quarter, though it was not a sharp fall. The only regions to escape the drop in the final quarter of 2015 were Galicia, the Balearic Islands and Aragon.
It should also be noted that the Spanish regions which create more companies are also the ones in which most fail, since they are the regions with the most dynamic business environment. Therefore, Catalonia is the region with most failed businesses in 2015, with 6,427, followed by Madrid, with 5,859. Nevertheless, Catalonia bucked the trend for Spain as a whole, which showed an almost 5% increase in failed businesses, since there was a decrease of almost 7% in Catalonia. Finally, 2016 was also a good year in terms of the number of companies that filed for bankruptcy. In total, the figure fell by 19.7% across Spain as a whole and by more than 20% in Catalonia.
