2020-12-10
This edition includes data on the number of businesses in Canada, private sector employment by business size, firm birth and survival rate, the share of high-growth firms, exports of goods by small and medium size enterprises and the contribution by business size to the gross domestic product.
2020-10-01
This paper analyzes the regulatory compliance costs of small and medium-sized enterprises using data from Statistics Canada’s 2011 Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs and Canada Revenue Agency’s General Index of Financial Information. It examines the firm characteristics likely associated with higher regulatory compliance costs as well as the impact of regulatory burden on firm productivity and business growth.
2020-07-03
The main objective of this paper is to understand the factors that have an impact on firm growth, specifically on Canadian SMEs. The paper complements and enriches the empirical literature on the mechanism underlying firm growth. This research uses Statistics Canada’s Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2011 linked to administrative data. For this report, firm employment growth for the period 20112013 was studied.
2020-05-20
The main objective of this study is to determine the factors that may have an impact on a firm's probability of becoming a high-growth firm (HGF). This analysis uses a sample over the period 2003–2012 of Canadian firms from a unique dataset, the National Accounts Longitudinal Microdata File, developed by Statistics Canada.
2020-02-19
This report presents findings from the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises to offer the first-ever snapshot of the financing and growth activities of clean technology (clean tech) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. These findings, which include statistics on the firm characteristics, financing, growth activities and ownership of clean tech SMEs, are compared with those of all SMEs.
2020-02-03
This document presents data on business lending activities gathered from the Statistics Canada Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing, the Bank of Canada Senior Loan Officer Survey and Business Outlook Survey, and the PayNet Canadian Business Lending Index.
2020-01-20
This report, based on data collected in the 2017 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, presents demographic statistics for seven SME majority ownership types: SMEs majority owned by men, equally owned by men and women, majority owned by women, majority owned by Aboriginal persons, majority owned by visible minorities, majority owned by person(s) with a disability and majority owned by members of the same family.
2020-12-23
This document presents data on business lending activities gathered from the Statistics Canada Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing, the Bank of Canada Senior Loan Officer Survey and Business Outlook Survey, and the PayNet Canadian Business Lending Index.
2020-09-10
This document presents data on business lending activities gathered from the Statistics Canada Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing, the Bank of Canada Senior Loan Officer Survey and Business Outlook Survey, and the PayNet Canadian Business Lending Index.
2020-07-24
Small Business Branch monitors small businesses’ access to financing based on the Credit Conditions Survey (CCS) and the Small Business Credit Condition Trends incorporates data from the 2019 CCS.
2020-07-24
Small Business Branch monitors small businesses’ access to financing based on the Credit Conditions Survey (CCS) and the Small Business Credit Condition Trends incorporates data from the 2019 CCS.
Fast facts
In 2022, there are 1.22 million SMEs in Canada that have employees.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
97.8% of businesses in Canada have fewer than 100 employees.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
Between 2016 and 2020, on average, 101,921 businesses were created every year and 96,548 disappeared.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
In 2022, private sector SMEs employ around 8 million people in Canada.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
22% of SMEs operate in goods-producing industries and 78% of SMEs operate in service industries.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
SMEs were responsible for $293 billion (40.8%) of Canada's total value of goods exports in 2022.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
2.6% of firms with 10 employees or more were high-growth firms in 2020.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
SMEs contributed 49% of Canada's GDP in 2020.
Source: Key Small Business Statistics
12.1% of SMEs exported goods and services in 2020.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
The likelihood of exporting increases with business size.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
The primary decision maker of 47% of SMEs is between 50 and 64 years old.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
16.8% of SMEs were majority-women owned in 2020.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
25% of SMEs are operated by individuals with a bachelor's degree, while 15% are operated by individuals with a master's degree or above.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
28% of SMEs innovated between 2018 and 2020.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
16% of SMEs held intellectual property in 2020.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
82% of SMEs requested external financing in 2020.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
92% of the amount of debt financing requested by SMEs was authorized.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises
2% of SMEs imported services from outside Canada.
Source: 2020 Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises