Data from the Continuous National Household Sample Survey indicate that, last year, the South American giant had 30.6 million people classified as entrepreneurs among the employed population.

  This category encompasses both employers and self-employed workers; of the total, nearly 20 million lacked the aforementioned registration status, which is used to legally identify businesses and economic activities.

  The proportion of registered entrepreneurs rose from 24 percent in 2012 to 29.3 percent in 2019—the last year prior to the Covid-19 pandemic—and reached 33.6 percent in 2024, the source reported.

  This growth was most pronounced among self-employed workers; 27.1 percent of this group held a registration last year—the highest percentage since the series began—compared to 15 percent in 2012.

  Among employers, the formalization rate reached 81.1 percent; since 2019, this figure has remained above 80 percent, a level considered both stable and high.

  The report also revealed a correlation between education levels and formal registration among self-employed workers.

  For the first time, more than half of those with higher education (50.8 percent) held formal registration, while the proportion was 29.7 percent among workers who had completed secondary education or had incomplete higher education.

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