Establishing a company also involves running the risk of failure. After a few years, some entrepreneurs are forced to shut down.
According to the FSO Business demography statistics, the average survival rate of new businesses in Switzerland is 81.9% after a year of existence. Thus, nearly 34,900 companies created ‘ex-nihilo’ in 2019 were still active in 2020.
If we look at companies founded in 2015, the survival chances at one year are slightly higher in the secondary sector, at 83.2%, compared to 82.9% in the tertiary sector. After two years of existence, businesses in the tertiary sector founded in 2015 show a survival rate of 70.8%, compared to 70.4% for the secondary sector. After three years of existence, the trend remains similar, at 61.7% in the tertiary sector and 60.2% in the secondary sector. After five years of existence, these figures increase to 49.5% in the tertiary sector and 47.2% in the secondary sector.