Brazil closed more businesses than it opened for two consecutive years.

Ana Cristina Campos, reporter for Agência Brasil - The total number of companies in the country fell 0,1% from 2014 to 2015, with 5 fewer businesses, according to data from the Business Demography survey, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), released today (4). In 2015, 4,552 million active companies were counted in Brazil.

In these companies, 40,2 million people worked, with 33,6 million (83,6%) as salaried employees and 6,6 million (16,4%) as partners or owners. Compared to 2014, there was a 4,5% decrease in salaried employment, equivalent to 1,6 million fewer jobs. This was the first decrease in salaried employment since the beginning of the series in 2008, according to IBGE.

Salaries and other compensation paid by companies totaled R$ 982,4 billion in 2015, with an average monthly salary of R$ 2.168,91, equivalent to 2,8 minimum wages.

Of the total number of active companies in 2015, 15,6% (708,6) were companies that entered the market. On the other hand, 713,6 companies left the market, representing 15,7% of the total number of companies in the country in 2015. According to IBGE, the survival rate was the highest in the series, registering a value of 84,4%, representing 3,8 million companies that remained active from 2014 to 2015.

The economic activities that stood out most in terms of new businesses entering the market in 2015 were commerce and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, with 276,1 businesses (39%).

In 2015, 37,8% of companies created in 2010 were still active in the market. During this period, the activities with the highest survival rates were human health and social services (54,8%) and real estate activities (50,8%). The research indicates that the survival rate for commerce is among the lowest during this period (36,1%).