The commercial register was established in 1995, and since then, we have good information available to us on the ages and operating periods of legal entities operating in Estonia.
Currently, one-third of all active legal entities are less than 5 years old, while nearly 15% are 20 years old or over. However, some years stand out more in terms of the number of operating companies – luckily explanations exist for these exceptions.
In 2009, sole traders (FIE), previously registered in the taxpayer register, were added to the commercial register.
In 2018, apartement associations were added to the register - they were established automatically by the government to replace previous associations and entered into the register.

Looking at the ages of legal entities that have ceased operations over the last 15 years, on average, 40-50% of legal entities were less than 5 years old at the time of deletion from the register.
The median age of ceased legal entities since 1995 is 5.7 years. The median age means that half of all ceased entities were less than 5.7 years old, and half were over 5.7 years old at the time of deletion from the register.