Among 610,637 enterprises that had reported business results as of December 31, 2018, 269,169 earned a profit, or 44.1% of the total, and 295,731 operated at a loss, or 48.4%, according to a white paper released by the General Statistics Office (GSO) on April 28.

Data: GSO. Graphic: Ngoc Thuy.

These enterprises employed a workforce of 14.82 million, up 2.1% year-on-year, with the majority (9.4 million) working in the industry and construction sector, or 63.4% of the total.

The services sector made up the largest proportion of the number of enterprises with 419,262, or 68.7% of the total, up 7.3% year-on-year. However, only 179,193 enterprises, or 42.7% of the total, were profitable, and 208,499 suffered losses, or 49.7%.

The industry and construction sectors came second with 184,531 enterprises, or 30.2% of the total, up 12.4% year-on-year, in which the percentages of enterprises making profits and losses were 47.6% and 45.5%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the agro-forestry-fishery sector was in the third place with 6,844 enterprises, or 1.1% of the total, up 25.3%. Of the figure, 2,166 were profitable, or 31.7% of the total, and 3,218 reported losses, or 47%.

According to the white paper, Vietnam had 2,260 state-owned enterprises at the end of 2018, accounting for 0.4% of the total and down 9.1% against late 2017. Among those firms, 1,773 made profits, or 78.5% of the total, and 436 run at a loss or 19.3%.

The private sector made up 97% of total enterprises nationwide with 591,499, up 9.2% year-on-year. However, only 258,722 generated profits, or 43.7%, and 287,469 suffered losses, or 48.6%.

The foreign-invested sector accounted for 2.7% of the total with 16,878 enterprises, up 4.3% year-on-year, in which 51.5% reported profits and 46.6% recorded losses.

In terms of business size, micro-sized companies form the largest base of the economy with 382,444, accounting for 62.2% of the total and up 7.4% year-on-year; 189,879 were small-sized, or 31.1% of the total, up 13%; 21,306 were of medium size, or 3.5% and up 6.1%; and 17,008 enterprises were large-sized, or 2.8%, up 5%.

As of end-2019, Vietnam had a total of 758,610 operational enterprises, up 6.1% year-on-year.

Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Hanoi were the top three cities with the highest ratios of business establishments per 1,000 population, standing at 26.5, 19.8, and 19.3, respectively, significantly higher than the national average of 7.9.