Comparability

Comparability - geographical

The statistics can be compared with the Business Demography published annually by Eurostat.

There is a difference regarding coverage. While the Danish published Business Demography include all NACE codes and ownerships, the European published Business Demography only include NACE Rev. 2 B-N excluding K642, which is a coverage in sectors comparable to the coverage in the structural business statistics. On voluntary basis P-S excluding S94 are also published. Moreover, following legal forms are included: Sole proprietor, Limited liability company and Partnership and other legal forms.

For more information on the european statistics published by Eurostat, refer to European Business Statistics Manual, 2021 edition.

Comparability over time

The Business demography statistics has been republished for the reference years 2019-2021. It is based on the new activity threshold, which includes economically active enterprises. It is therefore not directly comparable to the previous time series covering 2001-2021.

The definition of when an enterprise is considered active has been changed, which is why the new business demography contains fewer new enterprises than the old version of the statistics. The business demography, like the General Enterprise Statistics, has switched to identifying (new) active enterprises according to the economically active definition. An enterprise can be economically active by exceeding just one of several threshold values. Threshold values ​​are calculated and activity is determined based on turnover, goods purchases, the enterprises foreign purchases and sales, full-time employees, value added or payroll turnover. Contrary to the General Enterprise Statistics, an active enterprise does not appear in the Business Demography as a new enterprise if it simply meets the criterion of asset holdings, or if it is deemed active simply by controlling another enterprise that is economically active. These criteria have been excluded to ensure that the Business Demography only includes genuinely new enterprises, measured based on the enterprises own organic growth. For each industry, the amount limit for being active via turnover is calculated based on enterprises with 0.5-3 full-time employees, which has raised the turnover threshold value for some industries. This is primarily the reason why there are fewer new enterprises in the new business demographic compared to the old business demography.

Coherence - cross domain

Statistics Denmark also produce an entrepreneurship database. There is a difference between the two. In the entrepreneurship database it is not allowed for an enterprise to restart. In Business Demography this is allowed if the enterprise has been closed for at least two years.

Coherence - internal

The statistics are based mainly on one source, why the internal consistency is considered high.