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August 14, 2026BUSINESS COUNTS, JUNE 2026 The number of business locations in Nova Scotia with employees edged down 0.03% between December 2025 and June 2026. Across Canada, business counts fell by 0.41% with declines in eight provinces, led by Newfoundland and Labrador. Québec reported the fastest growth in business counts over this period.
The number of goods producing locations declined 0.57% in Nova Scotia. Nationally, the count of goods producing businesses was down 0.88% with declines in all provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Saskatchewan had the steepest declines. Québec reported the slowest decline.
The number of service businesses was up 0.35% in Nova Scotia, the fastest growth among provinces. The number of service businesses contracted by 0.22% nationally with declines in seven provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the steepest decline in the number of service businesses.
Grouping business counts by employment size, Nova Scotia reported growth in businesses with 1-4 employees (second fastest), 5-9 employees (only province to report growth) and 100-199 employees (fastest among provinces and Nova Scotia's size categories). Nova Scotian businesses with 10-19 employees, 20-49 employees, 50-99 employees, and 200 or more employees reported declines over the previous period.
Across Canada, business counts were down for all employment sizes.
The number of businesses in a particular industry or location is not an indicator of its economic significance; employment, output and income generated are better indicators of economic contributions. However, in addition to growth rates, the relative share of businesses by industry provides some insight on the economic structure of a particular location, relative to other jurisdictions.
Across Canada, businesses in goods industries make up a larger share of all businesses in Saskatchewan and the Maritime provinces. Goods businesses are a lower share of all businesses in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Distribution (wholesale, retail, transportation) and personal service industries make up a more consistent share of business counts across the country, with somewhat higher shares in Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba.
Real estate, finance, professional services, information and culture, company management as well as administrative and business support businesses are notably more concentrated in Canada's four most urban provinces: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Québec.
Health, social, education and public administration businesses make up a similar share of business counts across most provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador reported a higher portion of unclassified businesses.
Among Canada's Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA), Halifax and East Hants reported a 0.5% increase in business counts across all industries and sizes. Most CMAs across Ontario reported lower business counts (exception: Thunder Bay). Guelph, Brantford and Peterborough reported the steepest declines in business counts. Drummondville reported the fastest growth in business counts among CMAs from December to June.
Among Nova Scotia's industries (apart from unclassified businesses), business counts declined across many sectors, led by manufacturing. Business counts grew fastest in Nova Scotia's mining/quarrying industry, followed by health care/social assistance and arts/recreation industries.
In the Halifax and East Hants Census Metropolitan Area, mining/quarrying had the fastest growth in business counts while counts of utilities and manufacturing businesses had the steepest declines.
Counts grew faster for Halifax and East Hants businesses with 100-199 employees. The numbers of businesses with 200 or more employees were down in Halifax and East Hants from December to June.
Across Nova Scotia outside Halifax and East Hants, business counts declined most sharply for education, while mining/quarrying and utilities businesses reported the fastest growth in business counts from December to June.
Counts outside Halifax grew faster for businesses with 100-199 employees.
Among Nova Scotia's counties, only Cumberland, Pictou, Shelburne, Yarmouth and Halifax reported growth in business counts from December 2025 to June 2026. Richmond, Guysborough, Inverness and Victoria counties reported the sharpest declines in business counts.
Among Nova Scotia's counties, goods-businesses are a larger share of total business counts in Shelburne, Yarmouth, Digby, Guysborough, Richmond and Victoria counties (notably from agriculture, forestry and fishing).
Distributive and personal services businesses are more uniformly distributed across Nova Scotia's counties, though with somewhat larger concentrations in Annapolis, Colchester, and Cumberland counties and smaller concentrations in Shelburne and Yarmouth counties.
Financial, real estate, professional and administrative services were more concentrated in Halifax - particularly for professional and technical services as well as real estate and leasing. Guysborough and Shelburne Counties had notably lower shares of businesses in these industries.
Health, social, education and public administration businesses were larger shares of all businesses in Halifax, Antigonish, Cape Breton, Kings and Queens counties.
Key definitions for Statistics Canada's Business Register:
Statistical Enterprise
An enterprise is the legal operating entity at the top of the operating structure. There is only one enterprise per operating structure. It is associated with a complete set of financial statements.
Statistical Establishment
A statistical establishment is the production entity or the smallest grouping of production entities which:
- Produces a homogeneous set of goods or services;
- Does not cross provincial boundaries; and
- Provides data on the value of output together with the cost of principal intermediate inputs used along with the cost and quantity of labour resources used to produce the output.
- For example, a plant in the manufacturing industry which provides accounting information regarding the value of shipments (sales), direct costs and labour costs is considered a single establishment. However, two stores in the retail industry may be considered one establishment if the accounting information, described in item (c) above, is not available separately, but is combined at a higher level.
Statistical Location
The location is an operating entity, specifically a production entity which:
- Conducts economic activity at or from a single physical location or group of locations;
- Resides within the smallest standardized geographical area;
- Is able to provide employment data at a minimum.
- Multiple locations can be found under a single enterprise.
Sources: Statistics Canada. Table 33-10-1174-01 Canadian Business Counts, with employees, June 2026; Table 33-10-1176-01 Canadian Business Counts, with employees, census metropolitan areas and census subdivisions, June 2026; Table 33-10-1014-01 Canadian Business Counts, with employees, December 2025; Table 33-10-1016-01 Canadian Business Counts, with employees, census metropolitan areas and census subdivisions, December 2025
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