Business creation is accelerating in Malaga with over 600 companies employing more than 100 staff each
The Costa del Sol province now has nearly 60,000 companies with employees on the payroll after another flurry of business startups and arrivals that has seen it gain almost 1,000 companies in just one year
How many companies does Malaga have? The answer depends on what you consider a company. If we were to add up all the trading businesses, cooperatives, joint property partnerships, sole traders, temporary associations and other types of registered businesses, there would probably be hundreds of thousands. However, according to Spain's INE national statistics institute, there are around 137,000 economically active companies. The number can be narrowed down even further: if we look at those that generate employment (meaning those with at least one worker on the payroll), the latest known figure is 59,408. This corresponds to data from July and represents a new record for Malaga, which has experienced a flurry of company startups in the last year, adding almost 1,000 companies (937 to be precise) as registered with Social Security in the province.
With this growth, stronger than that of the previous two consecutive years, Malaga strengthens its leader position in Andalucía in terms of its active business community. It is the province with the most growth, increasing its advantage over the rest. The province alone accounts for 24.2% of all Andalusian companies registered with Social Security. Seville is second with 55,395, nearly 5,000 fewer companies, despite having 200,000 more inhabitants than Malaga. In terms of business density (that is, the number of companies per capita), Malaga is a rare bird (the exception) in Andalucía and is even above the national average.
The five years since the pandemic have been tremendously fruitful in terms of strengthening Malaga's business muscle, with more than 6,000 companies adding to job creation.
The '100-employee club'
There is another piece of good news, almost more important than the previous one, and it is available in the statistics on companies registered with Social Security, published by IECA (the region's institute of statistics and cartography). This news is that Malaga-based companies are gaining in size. Of all types of companies, those with more than 100 employees have grown the most in the last year, relatively speaking. In July 2025, there were 619 companies in the province with 100-plus employees. This is the first time that the 600 mark has been surpassed and this means that 34 companies have joined the '100-employee club' in the last year, which is equivalent to a 5.8% increase. This percentage is more than three times the rate at which the total number of companies in Malaga has increased (1.6%). This means that large companies are the ones pulling the most weight.
Since 2020, Malaga province has increased its number of companies with more than 100 employees by almost 200. This is equivalent to a 46% increase. Specifically, it has 434 companies with between 100 and 250 employees and 185 companies with more than 250. On the bottom layer of this pyramid, Seville retains its lead, as it has 233 such large companies, but Malaga is closing the gap and could soon steal the march on Seville there too, as has already occurred in the 100-250 employee bracket.
Atomisation, the endemic evil
The atomisation of the business fabric is one of the major ills identified in the Spanish business fabric and more so in Andalusicía. It has been demonstrated that micro-enterprises generally have lower profitability, a lower capacity for innovation and less resilience to crises, among other weaknesses. The arrival of multinational corporations, the growth of ambitious and well-managed local businesses and the dynamism of the economy itself are contributing to the change in Malaga's business prospects and outlook.
Currently, 51.6% of companies in Malaga have between one and two employees, compared to almost 55% in 2020. The percentage of companies with between three and five employees has also decreased (from 22.3% to 22%). However, all categories above these figures have increased their share: those with 6-9 employees have gone from 10.1% to 10.7%, those with 10 to 19 have gone from 7.4% to 8.3%, those with 20 to 49 were at 3.9% but now at 5.1%, those at 50-99 employees have crept up from 1% to 1.2%, those with 100 to 249 have gone from 0.6% to 0.7% and those with 250 or more have gone from 0.2% to 0.3%.
The ranking of companies with the most employees in Malaga is led by Acotral, with more than 3,500 employees. It is followed by Grupo Sifu, Opplus, Medac, Maskom, Cesur, NRSUR (a Burger King franchisee), Althenia (Sando's environmental subsidiary), Cemosa and Tiendanimal.
Large companies account for 1% of the total but create 40% of employment
Companies with over 100 employees represent only 1% of Malaga's business community, but generate almost 40% of salaried employment in the province. As of 1 July, these types of companies had just over 212,000 workers in the province, which is 11,000 more than a year earlier. They represent more than 38% of the total number of Social Security contributors linked to companies in Malaga, nearly 555,000.
This figure is an all-time record achieved after employment growth of 3.9%, the highest of all Andalusian provinces. The biggest boost has come from large companies. In contrast, smaller companies have experienced virtually no growth in their workforce.
The sector with the largest workforce is the hospitality industry, the only one with over 100,000 workers in the Costa del Sol province. However, very close behind is the retail trade, with nearly 99,000. Healthcare and social services (with almost 60,000) and administrative activities (with more than 56,000) are the next largest sectors for workforce numbers.
