British Columbia Small Business Counts* by Development Region	For more information contact Jade Norton (250) 387-6056

Development Region	2007	2008
Vancouver Island/Coast	68,300	69,500
Mainland/Southwest	221,700	224,100
Thompson-Okanagan	48,900	48,600
Kootenay	16,100	13,700
Cariboo	13,200	14,300
North Coast & Nechako	7,700	6,700
Northeast	7,900	7,200
British Columbia	384,800	384,300

Note: Small business is defined as those businesses with fewer than 50 employees plus businesses operated by self-employed individuals without paid help.

Regions may not sum to provincial total because some businesses could not be allocated to a specific region.

* Note that Statistics Canada has changed the method used to measure business counts such that a consistent time series prior to 2007 is no longer available.

Source: BC Stats using data supplied by Statistics Canada