Facts and statistics

Small business in Western Australia - at a glance

View the information below in an accessible version, or click on each image to see the related accessible data.

Graphic representing percentages of businesses that are small, large, medium and micro

 Graphic representing the number of small businesses in Australia (2,182,129) and Western Australia (221,837)
Image showing 75% of small businesses are based in Perth Graph representing WA small business by industry
         Graph representing small businesses as a percentage of all businesses by industry Image showing $40BN was contributed to the economy by smll businesses
Image showing WA small businesses employ 491,993 people  

Notes on statistics

  • Statistics as of 30 June 2017.
  • The SBDC uses the standard Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) definition of small business, which is any non-employing business or a business employing fewer than 20 people. 
  • These statistics are provided by the ABS, except for data marked with a * which has been sourced from the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre report The Engine Room for Growth? The Role, Performance and Future Prospects of Small Business in Western Australia.
  • As with any analysis based on data sets it is subject to a degree of error. Individual numbers or percentages should not be used as absolutes.