Manama: South Korea recorded a 6% decline in the number of manufacturing companies in 2024 amid an economic slowdown, while the total number of companies rose by 2% compared with the previous year, according to data from Statistics Korea.
According to Bahrain News Agency, the number of firms in Asia's fourth largest economy reached 6.35 million in 2024, up from 6.25 million in 2023. The wholesale and retail sector topped the list with 1.61 million companies, marking a 2.3% increase, while the science and technology sector grew by 4.9% to 243,418 firms.
In contrast, the number of manufacturing companies fell by 6.1% to 504,728, while agricultural and fishing firms declined by 6% to 11,876.
The data also showed that local companies employed 25.73 million people in 2024, up 1.1% from the previous year. The manufacturing sector led employment with 4.15 million workers, followed by wholesale and retail with 3.6 million.