Skopje, 25 March 2022 (MIA) — A total of 72,922 business companies operated in North Macedonia in 2021, down by 0.2 percent from 2020, according to preliminary figures released by the State Statistical Office. By number of workers, only 0.3% of businesses had 250 employees; 2% of businesses had between 50 and 249 employees; 3% of businesses had between 20 to 49 employees; and 4.5% of businesses had between 10 and 19 employees. Most businesses, or 82%, had one to nine workers on their payroll, followed by business entities with no employees or no data on employees (8.2%). By sector, Arts and Entertainment companies were down by 2.6 percent, and businesses providing Electricity, Heating and Cooling Services were up by 13.6 percent from 2022. The largest share of active companies were in the Wholesale, Retail, and Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles sector (30.0%) and Manufacturing (10.9%). The least companies were in Electricity, Heating and Cooling Services (0.3%), Water Supply and Waste Management (0.3%), and Mining and Quarrying (0.3%). "As a result of the process of harmonization of the variables in the Statistical Business Register with the Regulation on Business Statistics (EBS Reg. 2152/2019), two news releases will be published for 2021," state statisticians note in a press release. "This news release has been prepared based on the obtained preliminary data, while the final data will be published in the second news release (at the beginning of 2023)," they add. mr/