920,000 One-Person Creative Enterprises... Must Survive 1 Year and 3 Months to Break Even

As of 2020, the number of one-person creative enterprises surpassed 910,000.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the results of the 'One-Person Creative Enterprise Survey' on the 9th. One-person creative enterprises refer to individuals or joint business operators with fewer than five people who operate a business without regular employees, possessing creativity and expertise (excluding real estate businesses, etc.).

As of 2020, the number of one-person creative enterprises was 917,365, more than double the 458,322 recorded in 2019. However, this survey included new categories such as e-commerce, one-person media, and freelancers within household businesses from the Statistics Korea's '2020 Business Register,' making simple time-series comparisons difficult.

By industry, the largest shares were in 'Manufacturing' (28.4%), 'Educational Services' (17.2%), 'E-commerce' (16.4%), and 'Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services' (11.9%).

By region, Gyeonggi accounted for 27.2% (249,623), Seoul 24.7% (226,622), Busan 6.2% (56,507), Gyeongnam 6.0% (55,019), and Incheon 5.2% (47,713). The metropolitan area accounted for 57.1% (523,958), while non-metropolitan areas made up 42.9% (393,407).

The average time from startup to first sales was 2.6 months, and the average time to reach the break-even point (BEP) was 15.3 months.

The average age of representatives was 50.7 years, with 71.5% male and 28.5% female. As of 2021, the average sales per enterprise were 298 million KRW, and net profit was 61 million KRW.

The average business duration was about 12 years, and due to the nature of one-person creative enterprises, sole proprietorships (87.2%) outnumbered corporations (12.8%).

The main motivations for starting a one-person creative enterprise were 'utilizing aptitude and ability' (59.7%), 'generating high income' (21.3%), 'policy influence' (9.5%), and 'livelihood maintenance' (7.8%). The average preparation period for startup was 10.8 months.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.