Oldest Companies Still in Operation
Key Findings
🏆
Kongō Gumi (578) leads in Years in continuous operation with 1,448 in 2026.
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Average Years in continuous operation in 2026: 1,198 · median: 1,164.
↔️
Gap in 2026: Kongō Gumi (578) is 1.4× larger than Ichimonjiya Wasuke (1000).
About This Dataset
Oldest Companies Still in Operation
A handful of businesses have traded continuously since before most modern countries existed. This chart shows the oldest companies still operating, measured in years since their founding date as recorded by the source; entries whose founding year is given only as approximate are excluded.
Analysis
Kongō Gumi of Japan has been trading for 1,448 years, founded in 578 - 127 years longer than Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan. 8 of these 13 companies are in Japan. Across the 66 companies on the full pre-1300 list, the most common trades are hotel (15), brewery (11) and restaurant (6) - businesses serving needs that never went away, in sectors where a single family can hand the work down. The youngest company shown here was founded in 1000, 1,026 years ago.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Wikipedia - List of oldest companies
- Coverage
- 13 entities · 2026 · 13 observations
- Measure
- Years in continuous operation
- Last updated
- 10 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2026.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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