A record 207,000 new companies were set up in the Netherlands last year and 115,000 folded, also a record, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

There are now 1.85 million companies registered at the Chamber of Commerce (KvK), two-thirds of which are one-man operations, the CBS said. Three-quarters of the new companies registered with the KvK last year freelance operations.

Business services accounted for the bulk of the growth, or 40,000 new firms, followed by trade and construction industry services. Half the 28,000 new trading companies were online retailers – quadruple the 2018 figure.

The bulk of the growth in business service firms was due to holdings and management advisory firms. Designers, photographers and translators also accounted for a substantial share.

The number of people registered as independent postal delivery staff or as call centre workers went down and one in nine registered webshops also closed, the CBS said.