Businesses with overseas equity in all industries in New Zealand
2000–2025, number of enterprises with 1% or more overseas ownership
| Year as at February | Overseas equity | Number of enterprises |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1 to 24% | 813 |
| 2020 | 25 to 49% | 837 |
| 2015 | 25 to 49% | 732 |
| 2000 | 50% or more | 5,691 |
| 2010 | 25 to 49% | 642 |
| 2020 | 1 to 24% | 1,686 |
| 2005 | 25 to 49% | 552 |
| 2005 | 50% or more | 6,225 |
| 2005 | 1 to 24% | 1,095 |
| 2000 | 25 to 49% | 504 |
| 2010 | 50% or more | 7,344 |
| 2010 | 1 to 24% | 1,482 |
| 2020 | 50% or more | 9,105 |
| 2015 | 1 to 24% | 1,737 |
| 2015 | 50% or more | 8,631 |
| 2025 | 1 to 24% | 1,668 |
| 2025 | 50% or more | 8,982 |
| 2025 | 25 to 49% | 753 |
Definitions
Enterprises: A business or service entity operating in New Zealand. It can be a company, partnership, trust, estate, incorporated society, producer board, local or central government organisation, voluntary organisation or self-employed individual.
Employee Count: Employee count is a head-count of all salary and wage earners for the February reference month.
Overseas Equity: degree of overseas ownership. Information is collected from only medium and large enterprises.
ANZSIC: A hierarchical industry classification. For more information, visit http://www.stats.govt.nz/methods/classifications-and-standards/classification-related-stats-standards/industrial-classification.aspx
Limitations of the data
There are a number of limitations associated with business demography data. These limitations include:
- Non-coverage of 'small' enterprises that fall below the economic significance criteria on the Statistical Business Register (SBR)
- Lags in recording business births and deaths
- Difficulties in maintaining industrial and business classifications for smaller firms (that are primarily maintained using administrative data).
Inclusions
Business demography statistics are limited to economically significant individual, private-sector and public-sector enterprises that are engaged in the production of goods and services in New Zealand. These enterprises are maintained on the Statistical Business Register, which generally includes all employing units and those enterprises with GST turnover greater than $30,000 per year.
Changes to data collection/processing
Up to 2015 business demography series was based on the Stats NZ Longitudinal Business Frame (LBF).
From 2016 business demography series is based on the Statistical Business Register (SBR).
Data provided by
Dataset name
Business Demography Statistics: Enterprises by overseas equity and industry 2025
Webpage:
How to find the data
Data is displayed at URL provided. To create this dataset, click on download and 'Unfiltered data in tabular text (CSV)'.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: Business Demography Statistics: Enterprises by overseas equity and industry 2025
From the dataset Business Demography Statistics: Enterprises by overseas equity and industry 2025, this data was extracted:
- Rows: 2-5,159
- Column: 13
- Provided: 5,158 data points
This data forms the table Business - Enterprises and employees by overseas equity and industry 2000–2025.
Dataset originally released on:
October 30, 2025
About this dataset
Business demographic statistics give an annual snapshot (as at February) of the structure and characteristics of New Zealand businesses.