How old are Greek businesses
Of the 1,045,469 active businesses in Greece, only 1.63% existed fifty years ago. One in three was founded after 2020.
How many of the businesses operating in Greece today were already around fifty years ago?
17,006 out of 1,045,469. That is 1.63%.
The age of the Greek business population
| founding period | active today | share |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 to 1949 | 294 | 0.03% |
| 1950 to 1979 | 11,847 | 1.1% |
| 1980 to 1999 | 166,565 | 15.9% |
| 2000 to 2009 | 219,978 | 21.0% |
| 2010 to 2019 | 273,183 | 26.1% |
| 2020 to 2026 | 364,319 | 34.8% |
One in three active Greek businesses was founded in 2020 or later.
The survivors from the interwar years are counted in tens per year. 11 businesses founded in 1927 are still operating today. From 2024, 66,724.
| period | active |
|---|---|
| 1900-49 | 294 |
| 1950-79 | 11,847 |
| 1980-99 | 166,565 |
| 2000-09 | 219,978 |
| 2010-19 | 273,183 |
| 2020-26 | 364,319 |
Part of the shape is expected
We only see the businesses that survived to today. The older the founding date, the more years a business had in which to close. A curve that falls as you go back in time is a mathematical certainty, not a finding.
What is not obvious is the slope. The two most recent years, 2024 and 2025, account on their own for 145,103 active businesses. That is more than the whole twenty years from 1980 to 1999.
The five most "productive" founding years all come after 2021:
| founding year | active today |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 78,379 |
| 2024 | 66,724 |
| 2023 | 56,401 |
| 2022 | 45,995 |
| 2026 (to July) | 43,693 |
| 2021 | 39,307 |
Methodology
The source is GEMI, the Greek General Commercial Registry. We count every active business, companies and sole proprietorships, by the founding date currently recorded in the registry. 2026 counts up to July.
What it does not say
This is not a history of company formation. It is a snapshot of the businesses that exist today. A business founded in 1990 and closed in 2005 does not appear anywhere.
The founding date is the recorded one, not necessarily the real one. GEMI has operated since 2011, and older records were migrated from the previous registries. The migration left traces: there is a visible step around 2011 that is a migration artifact, not a burst of entrepreneurship.
9,283 businesses show a founding date before 1900. This is the bucket where records with an empty or zero date ended up. They are not in any period of the table, and they affect the shares only by being left out of the denominator.
A change of legal form gives a new date. A private company (IKE) that becomes an SA gets a new GEMI number, so it counts as younger than it really is.
The most recent formations, by day and by sector, are on the new companies page.
Frequently asked questions
How many Greek businesses have operated for more than 50 years?
When were most of today's Greek businesses founded?
Why do so few old businesses appear?
Sources
- GEMI registry (Greece), active businesses by year of founding accessed 20 Ιουλίου 2026
Data snapshot taken on 20 Ιουλίου 2026.
The bizlist.gr analyses are information drawn from public data and do not constitute tax, accounting, legal or financial advice.
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