You are here: Home / Statistics / Business in Ireland 2018 / Small and Medium Enterprises

Business in Ireland 2018

Small and Medium Enterprises

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Open in Excel:

This chapter outlines some of the main CSO statistics available on SMEs. Chapter 4, which deals with Business Performance in Ireland, also contains data on these enterprises.

SMEs are defined as enterprises with less than 250 persons engaged. In this chapter, SMEs are further split into Micro enterprises with less than 10 persons engaged, other Small enterprises with between 10 and 49 persons engaged and Medium sized enterprises with between 50 and 249 persons engaged. See Appendix 3.

See Tables 3.1 and 3.2 in this chapter for more detail on the data used in graphs.

Key Statistics on SMEs

Open in Excel:

X-axis label	Large (250+ persons engaged)	SMEs (<250 persons engaged)
Active enterprises	0.2	99.8
Persons engaged	32.5	67.5
Turnover	53.8	46.2
GVA	62.7	37.3

SMEs (<250 persons engaged) accounted for 99.8% of total number of enterprises in 2018 and 67.5% of all persons engaged
SMEs generated 46.2% of total Turnover in the Business Economy and 37.3% of Gross Value Added (GVA) was attributed to these enterprises
Large enterprises (250+ persons engaged) generated 53.8% of total Turnover and 62.7% of total GVA in the Business Economy in 2018

Micro enterprises (<10 persons engaged) accounted for 91.9% of all enterprises in 2018
Small (10-49 persons engaged) and Medium (50-249 persons engaged) enterprises combined accounted for 7.9% of the total number of enterprises, while Large enterprises accounted for the remaining 0.2%

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	Active enterprises
Micro (<10)	91.9
Small (10-49)	6.7
Medium (50-249)	1.2
Large (250+)	0.2

Micro enterprises accounted for 25.7% of persons engaged and had the highest number of enterprises (91.9%)
Small and Medium enterprises combined accounted for 41.8% of total persons engaged in 2018 and 7.9% of the total number of enterprises
Large enterprises accounted for the greatest percentage of persons engaged in 2018 at 32.5% despite having the lowest number of enterprises (0.2%)

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	Persons engaged
Micro (<10)	25.7
Small (10-49)	22
Medium (50-249)	19.8
Large (250+)	32.5

Small and Medium enterprises combined generated 19.6% of Gross Value Added (GVA)
Micro enterprises contributed 17.6% of total GVA while representing 91.9% of all enterprises
Large enterprises accounted for 62.7% of GVA in the Business Economy in 2018

For long labels below use to display on multiple lines	GVA
Micro (<10)	17.6
Small (10-49)	9.2
Medium (50-249)	10.4
Large (250+)	62.7

X-axis label	Large (250+ persons engaged)	SMEs (<250 persons engaged)
Construction	7.3	92.7
Distribution	28.8	71.2
Services	29.1	70.9
Industry	48.6	51.4
Financial and Insurance	65.6	34.4

The Construction sector had the largest share of its persons engaged in SMEs in 2018, at 92.7%
Both the Distribution sector (71.2%) and the Services sector (70.9%) reported that more than 7 in 10 of all persons engaged were in SMEs
The Financial and Insurance sector was the only sector in the Business Economy to report a higher proportion of employment in Large enterprises than in SMEs with 65.6% persons engaged

	Large (250+ persons engaged)	SMEs (<250 persons engaged)
Construction	11.6	88.4
Distribution	21.9	78.1
Services	48.8	51.2
Industry	88.5	11.5

The Construction sector reported that 88.4% of their total Gross Value Added (GVA) was in SMEs in 2018
SMEs in the Distribution sector recorded a figure of 78.1% for GVA, compared to the Services sector at 51.2%
Industry SMEs accounted for 11.5% of GVA in the sector

	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial and Insurance
Percentage of active enterprises	6.9	21.4	17.7	50.9	3.2

The Services sector had the highest percentage of SMEs in the Business Economy with 50.9% of all SMEs in 2018
The Construction sector had the second highest percentage of SMEs at 21.4%
The Financial and Insurance sector accounted for just 3.2% of all SMEs

	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial and Insurance
Percentage of persons engaged	11.9	12.3	24.6	47.8	3.3

The Services sector accounted for the largest proportion of persons engaged in SMEs in 2018 (47.8%). The lowest proportion was in the Financial and Insurance sector with just 3.3% of persons engaged
Having accounted for 21.4% of all active SMEs, the Construction sector accounted for just 12.3% of persons engaged in SMEs
SMEs in the Distribution sector accounted for 24.6% of all persons engaged in SMEs and 17.7% of all active SMEs in 2018
The Industry sector reported that 11.9% of all persons engaged and 6.9% of all active enterprises were in SMEs

	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services
Percentage of Gross Value Added	14.2	10.9	21.2	53.7

Enterprises in the Services sector accounted for 53.7% of all SMEs' Gross Value Added (GVA)
The Distribution and Industry sectors accounted for 21.2% and 14.2% of all SMEs' GVA respectively
SMEs in the Construction sector recorded the lowest rate of all SMEs' Gross Value Added at 10.9%

	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial and Insurance	Total Business Economy
2013	100	100	100	100	100	100
2014	104.5	106.7	101.5	104.7	101.4	103.9
2015	107.9	118.7	104.7	110.7	106.9	109.4
2016	111.2	131.3	107.5	115.5	109.7	114.2
2017	114.5	148.3	110.4	121.7	114.6	120.1
2018	117.4	154.8	111.5	123.8	118.4	122.5

All sectors experienced an overall increase in persons engaged in SMEs between the base year 2013 and 2018
The Construction sector reported the largest increase in persons engaged during the period 2013-2018 at 54.8%, with Services next at 23.8%
The total Business Economy showed an overall increase in persons engaged of 22.5% for the same period. See Table 3.3.

	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial and Insurance	Total Business Economy
2013	100	100	100	100	100	100
2014	105	163.6	100.5	102.9	99.5	103
2015	113.3	130.3	101.9	111.6	99	107.9
2016	124.2	146.6	105.7	123.8	100.2	116.1
2017	128.5	193.1	110.4	132.4	102.9	122.3
2018	133.5	228.8	115.8	144.5	105.2	129.9

All sectors experienced an overall increase in persons engaged in Large enterprises between the base year 2013 and 2018
Construction showed the largest overall increase in persons engaged in Large enterprises in the period 2013 to 2018 with an increase of 128.8%, followed by the Services sector at 44.5%
With respect to Large enterprises, the total Business Economy employment showed an overall increase of 29.9% between 2013 and 2018. See Table 3.4.

3.1 Number of active enterprises and persons engaged by sector and size class, 2018

3.2 Turnover and gross value added by sector and size class, 2018

3.3 Number of persons engaged in SMEs by sector, 2013 - 2018

3.4 Number of persons engaged in large enterprises by sector, 2013 - 2018

Go to next chapter >>> Business Performance in Ireland

Contact:

Central Statistics Office
Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

Tel:

(+353) 21 453 5000

E-Mail:

information@cso.ie

Careers

You can count on a rewarding career with the CSO.

Learn about our variety of roles and the benefits of working with the CSO.

Table 3.1 Number of active enterprises and persons engaged by sector and size class, 2018
						No.
Class size	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services¹	Financial and Insurance²	Total Business Economy
Active Enterprises
Micro (<10)	16,117	55,616	41,340	127,351	7,909	248,333
Small (10-49)	1,814	1,811	5,575	8,324	553	18,077
Medium (50-249)	596	178	765	1,595	143	3,277
All SMEs (<250)³	18,527	57,605	47,680	137,270	8,605	269,687
Large	176	21	109	286	65	657
All sizes³	18,703	57,626	47,789	137,556	8,670	270,344
Persons Engaged
Micro (<10)	28,500	85,502	90,615	198,203	10,256	413,076
Small (10-49)	38,272	33,247	108,063	163,546	11,170	354,298
Medium (50-249)	62,015	15,183	68,482	157,319	14,863	317,862
All SMEs (<250)³	128,787	133,932	267,160	519,068	36,289	1,085,236
Large	121,848	10,589	107,808	213,295	69,135	522,675
All sizes³	250,635	144,521	374,968	732,363	105,424	1,607,911
Source: CSO Business Demography
¹ Excludes Financial & Insurance activities (NACE Rev.2 Section K) and Services NACE divisions R92, R93, S95, S96.
² Excludes activities of financial holding companies (K642).
³Totals may differ due to rounding.

Table 3.2 Turnover and gross value added by sector and size class, 2018
					€m
Class size	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services¹	Total Business Economy
Turnover
Micro (<10)	10,075	16,100	49,332	52,906	128,413
Small (10-49)	8,215	6,232	60,426	28,874	103,747
Medium (50-249)	28,715	3,226	42,550	32,361	106,852
All SMEs (<250)²	47,006	25,558	152,308	114,141	339,013
Large	221,283	3,595	30,085	140,351	395,314
All sizes²	268,289	29,153	182,394	254,492	734,328
Gross Value Added
Micro (<10)	2,856	5,796	5,359	26,908	40,919
Small (10-49)	2,811	2,464	6,592	9,479	21,346
Medium (50-249)	6,641	1,177	6,381	10,020	24,219
All SMEs (<250)²	12,308	9,436	18,332	46,407	86,483
Large	94,897	1,241	5,133	44,311	145,582
All sizes²	107,205	10,677	23,465	90,718	232,065
Source: CSO Business Demography
¹ Excludes Financial & Insurance activities (NACE Rev.2 Section K) and includes Services NACE divisions of R92, R93, S95, S96.
² Totals may differ due to rounding.

Table 3.3 Number of persons engaged in SMEs by sector, 2013 - 2018
						No.
Year	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial and Insurance	Total Business Economy
2013	109,688	86,494	239,689	419,112	30,653	885,636
2014	114,642	92,289	243,303	438,666	31,084	919,984
2015	118,376	102,690	251,059	463,991	32,765	968,881
2016	121,921	113,558	257,718	484,187	33,621	1,011,005
2017	125,596	128,303	264,684	509,914	35,116	1,063,613
2018	128,787	133,932	267,160	519,068	36,289	1,085,236
Source: CSO Business Demography

Table 3.4 Number of persons engaged in large enterprises by sector, 2013 - 2018
						No.
Year	Industry	Construction	Distribution	Services	Financial and Insurance	Total Business Economy
2013	91,303	4,628	93,079	147,653	65,718	402,381
2014	95,903	7,571	93,563	151,894	65,376	414,307
2015	103,421	6,030	94,852	164,726	65,071	434,100
2016	113,431	6,783	98,339	182,797	65,881	467,231
2017	117,370	8,936	102,721	195,550	67,609	492,186
2018	121,848	10,589	107,808	213,295	69,135	522,675
Source: CSO Business Demography

Business in Ireland 2018

Small and Medium Enterprises

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Key Statistics on SMEs

Contents

Contact:

Links:

Careers

Follow: