The Ministry of Economy reported this Wednesday (9) that 4.026 million companies were opened in the country in 2021, a historic record in one year. In the same period, however, 1.410 million companies were closed. The balance of new business was positive at 2.615 million. 
The number of publicly traded companies represents an increase of 19.7% compared to 2020. Currently, there are 18.915 million active companies in Brazil. The data are in the Company Map, a digital platform of the Ministry of Economy that provides data on business registration in the country. Every four months, the service has the information updated.
The state of Amapá showed the highest percentage growth of publicly traded companies in 2021, with an increase of 40.9% compared to 2020, followed by Alagoas (39.2%), Piauí (33%), Paraíba ( 31.1%) and Bahia (30.6%). Mato Grosso do Sul, on the other hand, registered the lowest growth in business openings, 13.6%. Rio de Janeiro (13.7%), Espírito Santo (15.3%), Paraná (15.5%) and Distrito Federal (15.6%) were the other units of the federation that registered lower expansion of new business over the course of the year. last year.
Of the total number of active companies in Brazil, almost half (48.5%) are in the service sector, followed by trading companies (33%), manufacturing industry (9.3%), civil construction (7.9%) , agriculture (0.7%), mineral extraction (0.1%) and others (0.5%).
Regarding the type of business, the vast majority, about 13.2 million – out of the total of 18.9 million – are individual companies, including the individual microentrepreneur (MEI). Then come the companies Sociedade Empresária Limitada, with 4.4 million registrations. Businesses in the Individual Limited Liability Company (Eireli) format amount to 984,573, corporations are 175,355 and cooperatives total 34,520 in the country. The other types of companies add up to 64,419.
opening time
According to the Map, the average time to start a business decreased by almost a third compared to that recorded in January 2019, falling from five days and 9 hours to two days. In addition, 57% of new businesses are opened in less than a day.
The state of Sergipe and the Federal District stand out as the fastest, with an average time of one day to open a company. Among the capitals, Maceió is the most agile, with an average of 14 hours. In all, 18 federation units have an average time to open a new business of less than two days.
According to the Ministry of Economy, among the measures that are contributing to this agility are the Balcão Único, a technological solution that integrates data between bodies of each sphere of the government to accelerate the process of opening, closing and changing company data. The initiative is already present in the commercial boards of 17 states, and is expected to be implemented in all federative units by the end of the year.
Another action to speed up the opening of new businesses is the use of the GOV.BR electronic signature, which is already being used in 24 commercial boards, the ministry said. The GOV.BR signature simplifies the process of starting a business, is free and prevents the entrepreneur from having to buy a digital certificate or issue a power of attorney for a lawyer or accountant to carry out the process.
