The number of newly established companies in South Korea fell slightly last year amid a protracted economic slump, government data showed Friday.
Some 813,000 new businesses were created in 2015, down 30,000 from 843,000 tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
They took up 14.6 percent of the 5.55 million "operational companies" doing business in South Korea last year, down from 15.2 percent in 2014.
The number of firms that closed in 2014 rose by 112,000 to 777,000, accounting for 14 percent of the operational companies that year.
Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 2.6 percent in 2015, slowing down from a 3.3 percent expansion in the previous year.
Among the new companies, 24.9 percent were wholesalers and retailers, followed by accommodations and food service firms with 19.8 percent and real estate agencies with 19.7 percent.
The latest data, meanwhile, showed that 62.4 percent of all newly launched businesses in 2013 were still open in 2014, while only 27.3 percent of those that opened in 2009 survived until 2014.
The data showed more than 70 percent of electricity, health care, transportation and manufacturing businesses reached the second year in 2014, while estimates for the finance and insurance, wholesale and retail, and art and sports sectors hovered under the 50 percent range. (Yonhap)
