CRIF has examined the number of companies founded in Switzerland in 2015 and examined the trends over the past few years. The investigation took into account all the companies registered on the Business Register over a period of ten years. In addition, the analysis focused on the most frequently chosen legal form and the proportion of company founders who were foreign nationals.
For the first time in three years Switzerland has seen a slight reduction in newly established businesses.
A total of 43,051 businesses were founded in 2015, which is a decrease of 1.3% with respect to 2014, when 43,638 companies were established. The legal form most frequently selected was the limited liability company (15,363), followed by sole proprietorship (13,331), and then joint stock company (8,758). Compared to the previous year, the legal form of joint stock company experienced the highest decrease of 8.8% of newly founded companies. The foundation of sole proprietorships, however, saw another increase of 2% compared to 2014.
33.1% of company founders hold a foreign passport
About a third of all company founders (22,180) hold a foreign passport; this is equivalent to 33.1% of all those setting up companies in Switzerland. Back in 2005, this was just 26.5%.
An examination of the proportion of foreign nationals setting up companies with the most popular legal forms reveals that sole proprietorships were at the top of the table with 40% foreign nationals. Limited liability companies came next, with 34.3% foreign nationals, followed by joint stock companies, with 26.6%.
It is interesting to look back at 2005; at that time, the proportion of foreign nationals founding sole proprietorships was 28.7%, limited liability companies 27.8 %, and joint stock companies 20%.
