The line graph illustrates the changes in the number of shop openings and closures in a specific country over an eight-year period, from 2011 to 2018.
Overall, both the number of new shops and closures experienced significant fluctuations during the period. While shop openings saw a general downward trend, shop closures showed a more volatile pattern, ultimately ending the period higher than the number of new businesses.
In 2011, the number of shop openings started at a peak of approximately 8,500, significantly higher than closures, which stood at around 6,400. However, new openings plummeted to just under 4,000 by 2012. Over the following two years, there was a steady recovery in openings, reaching a secondary peak of roughly 6,200 in 2014, before declining again to settle at exactly 3,000 by 2018.
Conversely, shop closures fluctuated between 6,000 and 7,000 for the first three years. A dramatic shift occurred in 2015 when closures bottomed out at a record low of approximately 500. This sharp decline was short-lived, as the number of shuttered shops surged back to over 5,000 in 2016 and remained relatively stable around this level until 2018. By the end of the period, closures had overtaken openings by a margin of roughly 2,200.