Small Business Failure Rates

I've seen plenty of small business and entrepreneurial-related websites People often cite the high failure rate of new small businesses, with upwards of 90% of them supposedly failing in the first five years. However, there are no credible studies to back up these statistics. I spoke with the Office Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration to uncover the truth about small business survival rates. warn potential entrepreneurs about the failure statistics of new small businesses. Many say that between 50-65% of them will fail during the first two years and 90-95% will fail within five years. I've conducted quite a bit of research and have never found a credible study indicating that 90-95% of all new businesses will fail within five years. What's more, I see these "statistics" tossed around a lot in small business and entrepreneurial forums, striking unnecessary fear into the hearts and minds of people who may be considering starting their own venture. Being the curious sort of guy that I am, I decided to uncover the facts by doing some digging. I began my investigation at the Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration where by the way, they use the terms firm "birth" and "death" rather than failure.