Northern Territory

There were 15,431 small businesses in the Northern Territory on 30 June 2023, representing 1% of Australian small businesses. This is consistent with the 1% of Australians living in the Northern Territory¹.

_{¹Australian Bureau of Statistics, Regional Population, 2021-22, Accessed 15 January 2024}

Table 1: Small businesses in Northern Territory, 30 June 2023

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics, customised data, 2023.

Greater Darwin

Although only 60% of the Northern Territory’s population lived in the Greater Darwin area8, 74% (11,454) of the Territory’s small businesses were in Greater Darwin on 30 June 2023. The areas with the highest number of small businesses were:

Darwin City (1,301 small businesses)
Woolner – Bayview – Winnellie (998 small businesses)
Humpty Doo (790 small businesses)
Weddell (457 small businesses)
Berrima (456 small businesses).

Regional Northern Territory

There were 3,729 small businesses in the rest of the Northern Territory on 30 June 2023. These accounted for 24% of the Northern Territory’s small businesses. The highest number of small businesses were in:

Katherine (880 small businesses)
Charles (813 small businesses)
Alligator (297 small businesses)
East Side (248 small businesses)
Larapinta (218 small businesses).

Table 2: Businesses in Northern Territory by size, 30 June 2023

_{^*Includes businesses where information is only available at the state/territory level.}

_{¹ This includes a small number of businesses which have income tax withholding roles for purposes other than withholding amounts from wages and salaries (and as such have zero employment).}

_{²Calculated by ASBFEO based on the ABS definition of small business of 0-19 employees.}

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics, customised data, 2023.

Changes in small businesses numbers for the Northern Territory

Chart 1: Annual change in the number of small businesses in the Northern Territory

	Greater Darwin	Rest of Northern Territory	Northern Territory Total
2019	2.32	2.58	2.27
2020	3.01	1.59	2.65
2021	3.02	3.89	3.16
2022	6.21	5.90	5.51
2023	2.37	-0.11	1.69

_{Total includes a small number of businesses where information is only available at the state/territory level.}

Source: Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics, customised data, 2023.

The number of small businesses in the Northern Territory increased 2% over the year to 30 June 2023. They increased 2% (265) in Greater Darwin. The areas with the largest increase in the number of small businesses were:

Woolner – Bayview – Winnellie (increased by 39 small businesses)
Darwin City (increased by 38 small businesses)
Wulagi (increased by 30 small businesses).

Wulagi and Darwin Airport had the highest increases in percentage terms.

The number of small businesses in the rest of the Northern Territory decreased by 4 (0.1%) over the year to 30 June 2023. The largest fall occurred in Charles, where the number decreased by 5% (41 small businesses).