In economics, the business sector or corporate sector - sometimes popularly called simply "business" - is "the part of the economy made up by companies". It is a subset of the domestic economy, excluding the economic activities of general government, private households, and non-profit organizations serving individuals. The business sector is part of the private sector, but it differs in that the private sector includes all non-government activity, including non-profit organizations, while the business sector only includes business.
In the United States, the business sector accounted for about 78 percent of the value of gross domestic product (GDP) . Kuwait and Tuvalu each had business sectors accounting for less than 40% of GDP .
In systems of state capitalism, much of the business sector forms part of the public sector. In mixed economies, state-owned enterprises may straddle any divide between public and business sectors, allowing analysts to use the concept of a "state-owned enterprise sector".
The Oxford English Dictionary records the phrase "business sector" in the general sense from 1934. Word usage suggests that the concept of a "business sector" came into wider use after 1940. Related terms in previous times included "merchant class" and "merchant caste".