Increase in new businesses

Last year more than 150,000 people in the Netherlands started a company, which is an increase of 13 percent compared to 2012. This is evidenced by figures, published by the Chamber of Commerce on Monday.The number of start-ups in the service sector remains high at 63 percent . The construction sector accounts for 9 percent of the starters. Five years ago, the share of this sector was at 20 percent.

The proportion of women among starters has slightly decreased, even though it was stable for several years. Meanwhile, a third of new businesses consists of female entrepreneurs . The average age of people who start a business is 38 years.

Most starters (94 percent) are self-employed (freelancer). Due to the economic crisis, more people started their own business. For example, construction workers started their own business after bankruptcy of large companies

Among the foreign starters, the number of Turkish and Moroccan starters is most noticeable . Spectacular is the large percentage increase ( 74 percent ) of Chinese.