The number of business start-ups continues to fall in Germany, but not in Berlin
DIW Weekly Report No. 26, 2017
Berlin was also the founding capital of Germany in 2016.
Per capita, significantly more businesses were opened both in comparison to the national average and in comparison to other large cities such as Hamburg.
While the total number of start-ups in the federal government has continued to decline steadily since 2011, this downward trend was stopped in Berlin: In 2016 a similar number of people started their own business as in 2015.
Stuttgart comes last in a comparison of the twelve largest German cities, with the lowest propensity to set up new businesses. In Berlin, the high importance of business start-ups by foreign citizens, which account for almost 50 per cent of all start-ups, continues to be particularly striking. Munich and Cologne lead the way when it comes to company start-ups with innovation potential. In this segment of research-intensive and knowledge-intensive start-ups, Berlin is losing momentum, similar to many other large cities.