In Spain today there are more businesses than before the pandemic, but the increase was less than in the European Union and it is concentrated mainly at the extremes: microenterprises and large enterprises, while the segment of small SMEs, between 10 and 19 employees, is weakening.
According to Eurostat data, between 2021 and 2024 the total number of companies in Spain increased by 5.02%. Growth is lower than the average recorded in the European Union (EU), which was 7.82%.
If we measure the number of employees, all sections of companies have increased in Spain, except for one, that with between 10 and 19 employees.
In Spain there is something more 3.52 million businesses. Among them,94.8% have fewer than 10 employees. This proportion is slightly higher than the European average, which is around 94.5%.
This group of 0 to 9 employees totaled more than 3.3 million companies in 2024, after growth of 5.2% since 2021.
However, in these same years 3,761 companies with 10 to 19 employees have disappeared, which implies a drop of 3.7%.
Juan Pedro Aznar Alarcón, professor of the Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting at Esade, recalls that this has always been emphasized the “excessive weight of very small businesses” in Spain.
He also emphasizes that a minimum size, around the medium-sized company, is necessary to export, invest in innovation and gain productivity.
José Manuel Corrales, professor of economics and business at the European University, insists that the range of 10 to 19 employees should be the natural ramp towards more professionalized structures.
If this stage stagnates or regresses, many companies remain prisoners of the logic of subsistence and the system loses the capacity to generate stable and productive jobs.
The size data reinforces this idea. Companies with 20 to 49 employees experienced growth in number of around 12% between 2021 and 2024 and those with 50 to 249 employees, around 10%. Those with more than 250 employees did so at 14.2%.
The result is a structure in which the extremes are strengthened – micro-enterprises at the bottom and medium and large companies at the top – while the 10 to 19 employee echelon is weakened.
Corrales warns that the problem is not just the lack of mid-sized companies, but many microenterprises fail to consolidate their progress.
At the same time, The big ones are those which gain the most weight in terms of turnover, which reinforces the dependence of the productive fabric on a relatively small group of companies.
The turnover clearly shows the imbalance. Between 2021 and 2024, the total turnover of Spanish companies increased by just under 28%.
Microenterprises, with 0 to 9 employees, are growing by about the same percentage; those aged 10 to 19 barely receive an advance of just under 20%; Companies with 20 to 49 employees increase their sales by just over 20% and those with 50 to 249 employees increase their sales by around 25%.
It is the large ones, with more than 250 employees, who lead the cycle, with increases in invoicing above 30%.
In terms of employment, the trend is similar. The total number of employees in companies increased by almost 10% during these years.
However, the group of 10 to 19 workers practically stagnates, with a slight fallwhile micro-enterprises are increasing their workforce and the levels of 20 to 49 and 50 to 249 employees are creating jobs at a good rate.
Above, the growth of large companies is generally positive. The fact that the number of companies with more than 250 employees is increasing indicates that there are groups which reach a critical mass which allows them export more, invest in innovation and gain productivitysomething that Spain has historically had to a lesser extent than other European countries.
In this sense, Aznar and Corrales agree that having more large companies strengthens the productive fabric and ensures employment stability.
The nuance is that statistics do not allow us to know How many of these large companies are Spanish groups? which have increased and how many are there? multinational subsidiaries which already arrive with this size.
If it is mainly foreign direct investment, the effect is also positive – it brings jobs, capital and technology – but it can be concentrated in a few sectors and in decisions taken outside the country.
If, on the other hand, it is local medium-sized businesses that have taken the plunge, this would demonstrate a an internal commercial fabric that matures and evolves.
If we look at the EU-27, the contrast is clear. The average growth recorded between 2021 and 2024 is close to 7.8%. The increase in employment is around 5%, compared to around 10% in Spain, but distributed among a larger number of companies and with a slightly more balanced structure.
Across Europe as a whole, microenterprises also dominate, representing around 94% of the fabric, but the proportion of companies with 10 to 19 and 20 to 49 employees is slightly higher than in Spain.
Corrales relates part of this gap to less digitalization and technological integration of Spanish SMEs compared to European financing and access to financing more dependent on own resources, which limits the capacity to invest and grow.
Aznar adds cultural and environmental factors: lower risk tolerance, a corporate culture that often prioritizes family control over growth and less effective support policies in terms of training, financing and networks allowing small SMEs to take the big step.
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