Malaga province still leads in business start-ups in Andalucía, but Almeria is hot on its heels

The province has also reaffirmed its leadership in terms of the size of its business sector, which stands at nearly 60,800 companies, according to the latest figures from the Andalusian institute of statistics and cartography (IECA).

The second Andalusian province in terms of total number of companies in July was Seville, with 55,791, but it has not occupied the same position in terms of company growth over the past year, having added just 396 in the last 12 months. This means that the rate of new business creation in Malaga is 3.5 times that recorded in Seville.

The province hot on the heels of Malaga in terms of growth in its business sector is Almeria, which ended July 2026 with 1,341 more companies than 12 months earlier, bringing the total number to 26,729. These two leading provinces therefore account for around 65 per cent of all new business start-ups recorded in Andalucía over the past year.

Following Malaga and Almeria, albeit some way behind, comes Granada, which ended July with 513 more companies than in the same month of 2025. Jaén has seen 370 new companies registered, while Cordoba has added 232 over the past year.

Meanwhile, Huelva and Cadiz are tied, with 166 more companies registered with Social Security over the past 12 months.

In terms of total number of businesses, Cadiz ranks third after Malaga and Seville, with 33,736, followed by Granada (28,488), Almeria (26,729) and Cordoba (23,838). Huelva and Jaén have fewer than 20,000.

The number of companies registered with Social Security in Malaga province rose from 60,738 in June to 60,794 in July.

Meanwhile, the Andalusian business sector as a whole saw a decline of 2,054 companies in July, with the 252,071 recorded in June falling to 250,017 a month later.

Alongside Malaga, only Cadiz saw an increase in the number of companies within its business sector. Moreover, it did so to a greater extent than the province of Malaga, as it added 129 companies. bringing the total to 33,736.

If Malaga and Cadiz continue seeing an increase in the number of companies registered even during the summer, how are the losses distributed among the other Andalusian provinces?

To begin with, Seville was the province that saw the sharpest fall in the number of companies registered with Social Security last month, with a loss of 680, dropping from 56,471 to 55,791.

Almeria followed, with 568 fewer companies. Had it not been for the figures for July, it would have surpassed the Costa del Sol province in terms of business activity. Meanwhile, Cordoba lost 521, Granada 355, Huelva 116 and Jaén 48.

In which sectors have companies been winding up over the past month? The bulk of the decline has been in the agricultural sector, where the number of companies has fallen by 1,788, dropping below 30,000.

In the industrial sector, the fall stood at 67, bringing the total to 16,235 in the region. In Malaga, the loss is limited to four, bringing the total to 2,649.

The number of companies specialising in construction has also fallen (there are 344 fewer across the region and 21 fewer in Malaga, bringing the total to 6,286).

The only sector in which the number of businesses is growing is the services sector, with 145 more across Andalucía as a whole, taking the total to over 181,000. In Malaga, there were 191 more, bringing the total to over 49,700. However, there are also provinces where the services sector is actually shrinking, such as Seville, Granada and Cordoba.

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