The economic recession forced a total of 110,058 Spanish companies to go out of business, the ministry of labour and immigration has said.

Businesses which employed between six to 50 people have been hit hardest by the slump, with 47,835 such firms shutting down. Another 39,708 enterprises having between two and five workers had to be closed.

The number of companies with workforce of over 500, however, increased by 96 between January 2008 and the end of July 2010.

A total of 33,332 new companies were registered with the social security bureau since February this year.