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March 23, 2026BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, DECEMBER 2025 Monthly (December 2025 vs November 2025, seasonally adjusted)
The number of active businesses in Nova Scotia grew by 0.15% from November 2025 to December 2025, rising by 31 to 21,137 active businesses.
Nationally, active businesses were down 0.07%, despite gains in seven provinces, led by New Brunswick. British Columbia reported the fastest decline in active businesses.
A business will be classified as 'opening' if it had no employment in the previous month and then has employment in the next month. A business is 'closing' if it had employment in the previous month and no employment in the current month. For opening and closing, the reason could be a permanent change (i.e. business exit) or temporary for reasons such as seasonal operations, capital maintenance or restructuring. Continuing business are those that had employment in both the current and previous month. Active businesses are the sum of continuing and opening business in the current month.
The rate at which business either opened, continued or closed can be examined to see how the number of active businesses has changed. The calculation for the opening, continuing and closure rates are based on the number of active businesses in the previous month.
Most businesses continue operating each month. In December 2025, Nova Scotia's business continuing rate was 94.9%, below the national average (95.2%). Québec reported the highest business continuing rate (96.9%) while Prince Edward Island reported the lowest continuing rate (94.4%).
Nova Scotia's business opening rate was 4.9% (just above the national rate of 4.8%) in December 2025, up from the previous month. Prince Edward Island had the highest business opening rate (5.6%) while Québec had the lowest (3.6%).
Nova Scotia's business closing rate was 4.9% in December 2025, above the national average of 4.8%. Alberta and Prince Edward Island reported the highest business closing rate (5.5%), while Québec had the lowest business closing rate (3.5%).
Year-over-year (December 2025 vs December 2024)
Compared with December 2024, the number of active businesses was up 0.59% for Nova Scotia. Nationally, active businesses decreased 0.02% compared to December 2024. Manitoba reported the fastest year-over-year increase in active businesses, while Newfoundland and Labrador had the largest decline.
The number of active businesses in the Halifax and East Hants Census Metropolitan Area was up 2.1% from December 2024 to December 2025, the second fastest (tied with Abbotsford-Mission) rise among all CMAs.
Out of 35 CMAs, 18 reported growth in active businesses over the past 12 months. Moncton reported the largest increase. The largest decline in active businesses was in Guelph.
Compared with December 2024, eight sectors saw an increase in active businesses in Nova Scotia in December 2025 with the largest percentage increase in mining/oil/gas. The steepest decline was in forestry/fishing.
Nationally, the number of active businesses was down for eleven of sixteen business sectors. The fastest decline was in forestry/fishing, while the largest gain was in utilities.
Statistics Canada has broken out specific data for tourism-related industries. Compared with December 2024, the number of active tourism-related businesses increased 0.6% in Nova Scotia as of December 2025, with gains in all subsectors except accommodation (fastest: travel services).
Nationally the number of tourism-related businesses was up 0.8% from December 2024 to December 2025, with transportation, food/beverage and recreation/entertainment gains offsetting a decline in travel services and accommodations.
Trends
There has been a downward trend in forestry/fishing active businesses, but in the three months prior to April there was a substantial rise in active businesses. Active businesses in forestry/fishing subsequently declined up to December from their recent peak in March 2025. Mining/quarrying has been rising in recent months. Utilities had been slowly growing but reported a slow decline in recent months.
From 2020-2025, the number of active businesses in construction grew at a steady pace despite a slight dip in the end of 2024 and in recent months. Manufacturing businesses have remained stable for the past 3 years.
Personal/repair, accommodation/food services and arts/recreation business counts have been relatively stable in recent months.
Retail and wholesale businesses have declined steadily in recent years.
Active businesses in transportation have been rising slowly since early 2025. The number of active businesses in real estate/leasing have declined again after recent growth. Active businesses in administrative/support/call centers have grown since 2024.
Professional/technical services active businesses have grown in 2025, but this growth tapered off in the most recent months. Finance/insurance/management businesses as well as businesses in information/culture have been stable.
The source data is seasonally adjusted. The data may not aggregate due to firms being classified into multiple industry or geography.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 33-10-0270-01 Experimental estimates for business openings and closures for Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas; Methodology: Business Opening and Closing
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