Business surveys

The business surveys monitor developments in business activity and the factors affecting it in enterprises in the construction, industry, retail trade, and services sectors. The collected data enable assessment of the economic situation by European Union member state, in the EU as a whole, and in the euro area.

A confidence indicator is compiled for each sector. Business confidence indicators are components of the European Commission's Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI).

The survey is conducted in all EU member states. Data are collected from enterprises in the construction, industry, retail trade, and services sectors. The main indicators include developments in business activity and the factors influencing these developments, as well as changes in employment, business expectations, and economic uncertainty at both national and European Union level.

Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK) based on NACE Rev. 2

The survey covers enterprises in the following economic activities:

- Manufacturing (EMTAK C);

- Construction (EMTAK F);

- Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (EMTAK G45);

- Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles (EMTAK G47);

- Transportation and storage (EMTAK H);

- Accommodation and food service activities (EMTAK I);

- Information and communication (EMTAK J);

- Financial and insurance activities (EMTAK K);

- Real estate activities (EMTAK L);

- Professional, scientific, and technical activities (EMTAK M);

- Administrative and support service activities (EMTAK N);

- Arts, entertainment, and recreation (EMTAK R);

- Other service activities (EMTAK S).

Balances – the difference between the shares of positive and negative response options, measured in percentage points of total responses

Construction confidence indicator – the arithmetic mean of the balances (in percentage points) for current order books and employment expectations

Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) – a composite indicator compiled by the European Commission that measures businesses' and consumer's assessments of the economic situation in five sectors (construction, retail trade, services, industry, and consumers), with the aim of reflecting the general economic situation and forecasting economic growth

Enterprise – an enterprise consists of one or more companies (public limited company, private limited company, limited partnership, general partnership, commercial association) or branches of foreign companies or sole proprietors. Short-term statistics cover only branches of foreign companies with 20 or more persons employed and sole proprietors. The statistical unit is an enterprise.

Industrial confidence indicator – the arithmetic mean of the balances (in percentage points) for production expectations, order books, and stocks of finished products (the latter with an inverted sign)

Retail trade confidence indicator – the arithmetic mean of the balances (in percentage points) for the present and future business situation (sales) and stocks (the latter with an inverted sign)

Services confidence indicator – the arithmetic mean of the balances (in percentage points) for sales of services, demand, and expected demand

Enterprise

The population consists of enterprises whose principal activity falls within one of the following sectors: manufacturing; construction; wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; retail trade; transportation and storage; accommodation and food service activities; information and communication; financial and insurance activities; real estate activities; professional, scientific, and technical activities; administrative and support service activities; arts, entertainment, and recreation; and other service activities.

Estonia as a whole

May 2026–…

Data are published for the current month at the end of each month.

Not applicable

Official Statistics Act;

The Joint Harmonised EU Programme of Business and Consumer Surveys, initiated by the Commission Decision of 15 November 1961; last approved through Commission Decision C(97) 2241 of 15 July 1997 (https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/bcs/legis/bcs-decision-c(1997)2241_en.pdf); implementation updates presented in Commission Communications COM(2000) 770 of 29 November 2000, COM(2006) 379 of 12 July 2006, SEC(2012) 227 of 4 April 2012, and C(2016) 6634 of 20 October 2016.

None

News releases are published as needed and are available on Statistics Estonia's website in the News section.

Not published

Data will be published in the statistical database on 26 May at 8:00 a.m.

Not applicable, as Statistics Estonia started publishing these data in May 2026.

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes.

Pseudonymised microdata and aggregated data are transmitted to the European Commission monthly, seven working days before the end of the reference month. Data are transmitted via the EDAMIS data transmission system.

The survey results are also available in the database of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) and in the Eurostat database.

Not applicable, as Statistics Estonia started publishing these data, and the related metadata, in May 2026.

European Commission methodology for business and consumer surveys

This statistical activity is guided by the European Statistics Code of Practice – revised edition, 2017.

The survey is based on a probability samples. The samples for the business surveys are selected from the business register for statistical purposes.

The sampling method is stratified simple random sampling by economic activity and number of persons employed.

There are four business surveys: for enterprises in the construction, industry, retail trade, and services sectors.

For the construction survey, a random sample is drawn from economically active enterprises whose principal economic activity, according to the 2008 version of the EMTAK classification, falls under Section F "Construction" and whose number of persons employed was at least 10. The sample size is 165 enterprises.

For the retail trade survey, a random sample is drawn from economically active enterprises whose principal activity, according to EMTAK 2008, falls under Divisions G45 "Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" and G47 "Retail trade", and whose number of persons employed was at least 10. The sample size is 175 enterprises.

For the services survey, a random sample is drawn from economically active enterprises whose principal activity, according to EMTAK 2008, falls under Sections H "Transportation and storage", I "Accommodation and food service activities", J "Information and communication", K "Financial and insurance activities", L "Real estate activities", M "Professional, scientific, and technical activities", N "Administrative and support service activities", R "Arts, entertainment, and recreation", and S "Other service activities", and whose number of persons employed was at least 5. The sample size is 720 enterprises.

For the manufacturing industry survey, a random sample is drawn from economically active enterprises whose principal activity, according to EMTAK 2008, falls under Section C "Manufacturing", and whose number of persons employed was at least 10. The sample size is 390 enterprises.

Month

The survey data are collected using a web questionnaire, which can be completed from the first working day of the month through the 14th, inclusive.
Before the survey begins, an email is sent to all enterprises in the sample introducing the purpose of the survey and indicating when the online questionnaire will be available for completion.

Data collection and questionnaire submission are managed and monitored through the LimeSurvey application. The questionnaires are designed to be completed independently by the respondent in an online environment.
The questionnaires and information about data submission are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Questionnaires.
Data are collected for this statistical process using the monthly questionnaires 1510 "Construction survey", 1511 "Retail trade survey", 1512 "Services survey", 1513 "Industry survey".
The questionnaire can be completed in Estonian, Russian, or English.
If the data submitter has questions arising during the completion of the questionnaire, they can contact customer support. Therefore, training is provided to customer support and the data collection team before the start of the survey, where the content of the survey is discussed and the questionnaire is reviewed together.

Arithmetic and qualitative checks are used in the validation process. Before data dissemination, the internal coherence of the data is checked.

The logical coherence of input data is checked according to the quality requirements: internal coherence, population coverage, and the response rate are checked.

The data are also validated according to the European Commission’s requirements; logical checks are carried out when the data are transmitted via EDAMIS.

In the case of missing data, values are imputed (replaced) on the basis of previous data according to predefined rules. Data values for a single enterprise are imputed for up to three consecutive months.

In business surveys, weights are calculated for statistical units to expand sample survey data to the population.

Variables that were not collected but are necessary for producing the output are calculated. New variables are calculated by applying arithmetic conversions to existing variables.

Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. The collected data are converted into statistical output.

The imputation rate shows the share of imputed values among all values.

At the time of compiling the report, the imputation rate cannot be assessed, as no imputation is carried out during the initial collection and publication of the data (there are no previous data on which to base imputation).

Not applied

Not applied