Catalonia continues to be the autonomous community in Spain with the most companies, but Madrid is ahead of it in terms of dynamism, since it creates more new companies and receives a greater number of other communities, minus departures. In 2022, 20.1% of the companies that deposited their accounts were in Catalonia compared to 19.1% in Madrid. As all companies are required to present accounts, the statistics of the Association of Registrars is a good tool.
In relation to the data of the movement and business activity in 2022, Madrid surpasses the Catalan community even in the bad, the suspensions of payment and extinctions. Last year, in the net balance ranking (company departures from the community and arrivals in the territory), Madrid surpassed Catalonia. The Madrid community registered more entrances than exits (191) and, on the other hand, Catalonia was the other way around (lost 181).
Sources from the Department of Business and Work, headed by Roger Torrent, highlighted that “Catalonia continues to lead the number of companies in the State.” The same sources stressed that “the number of companies that have moved their headquarters out of Catalonia in 2022, and the negative balance that has occurred, is the lowest in the last five and seven years respectively.”
Catalonia suffered in 2017, coinciding with the independence referendum, an unusual leak from the corporate headquarters of several thousand companies. The two large banks (Sabadell and CaixaBank) began the process and the rest of the Ibex and listed companies followed. Plus thousands of other smaller companies. The companies removed the headquarters in anticipation of a lack of legal certainty if there was a unilateral declaration of independence.
Regarding the balance between the creation of new companies and extinctions, Madrid wins the game again. At the end of 2022 there were more new companies in Madrid than in Catalonia. In 2022, 23,259 were established in Madrid compared to 19,035 in Catalonia. In parallel, the extinction of 10,076 companies was registered in Madrid and another 7,455 in Catalonia. The aforementioned balance is higher in the community that houses the capital of Spain (13,183 more) than in Catalonia (gain 11,580).
They were the two communities with the greatest activity creating new societies. The third autonomy was Andalusia with 17,304 companies. In all communities the creation of companies fell (1.9% less on average) except in the islands of the Balearic and Canary Islands, where they grew.
The number of companies indicator is not very precise to determine economic activity in one community or another. It is common for large professional firms to set up commercial companies in Madrid or Barcelona and then proceed to transfer them to the corresponding community in which the activity will be carried out.
Madrid also led bankruptcy declarations with 1,420 files while in Catalonia there were 1,102.
From the Department of Business they specify that “economic dynamism cannot be assessed -only- by the balance of companies created and received by other areas of the State. If we analyze the data, we can verify the competitiveness of Catalonia in multiple areas: an unemployment rate lower than that of the State and that of Madrid, leadership in industrial weight and exports; or achieving records for attracting foreign investment and the number of multinationals in the country, among others”.