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April 29, 2026BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, JANUARY 2026 Monthly (January 2026 vs December 2025, seasonally adjusted)
The number of active businesses in Nova Scotia dropped by 0.23% from December 2025 to January 2026, falling by 49 to 21,060 active businesses.
Nationally, active businesses were down 0.17%, with declines in seven provinces, led by Prince Edward Island. Manitoba reported the fastest increase 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 January 2026, Nova Scotia's business continuing rate was 95.0%, just above the national average (94.9%). Québec reported the highest business continuing rate (96.6%) while Alberta reported the lowest continuing rate (94.2%).
Nova Scotia's business opening rate was 4.8% (just below the national rate) in January 2026, down from the previous month. Alberta had the highest business opening rate (5.5%) while Québec had the lowest (3.5%).
Nova Scotia's business closing rate was 5.0% in January 2026, the same as the national average. Prince Edward Island reported the highest business closing rate (5.8%), while Québec had the lowest business closing rate (3.5%).
Year-over-year (January 2026 vs January 2025)
Compared with January 2025, the number of active businesses was up 0.28% for Nova Scotia. Nationally, active businesses decreased 0.21% compared to January 2025. Manitoba reported the fastest year-over-year increase in active businesses, while Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador had the largest declines.
The number of active businesses in the Halifax and East Hants Census Metropolitan Area was up 2.2% from January 2025 to January 2026, the second-fastest increase among CMAs.
Out of 35 CMAs, 25 reported growth in active businesses over the past 12 months, with Moncton reporting the fastest increase. The largest decline in active businesses was in Guelph.
Compared with January 2025, seven sectors saw an increase in active businesses in Nova Scotia in January 2026 with the largest percentage increase in mining/oil/gas. The steepest decline was in information/culture.
Nationally, the number of active businesses was down for twelve of sixteen business sectors. The largest gain was in utilities and arts/entertainment/recreation, while the largest declines were in forestry/fishing and transportation.
Statistics Canada has broken out specific data for tourism-related industries. Compared with January 2025, the number of active tourism-related businesses increased 1.2% in Nova Scotia as of January 2026, with gains in all subsectors except transportation and accommodation (fastest: travel services).
Nationally the number of tourism-related businesses was up 1.1% from January 2025 to January 2026, 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 2025 there was a substantial rise in active businesses, which has since subsided to the previous trend. Mining/quarrying has been steadily declining, but increased in recent months. Utilities has been growing steadily in recent years.
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, plateauing in recent months. 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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