The number of publicly listed companies in the US has fallen since the mid-1990s.
This chart captures this decline in the total number of listed stocks, including additions and subtractions each year from 1976 to 2019.
“There are one-half as many public companies as there were in 1996 and three-quarters as many as there were in 1976. The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, launched in 1974 to reflect the complete U.S. equity market, had 3,473 stocks as of December 31, 2019.”
