A record number of people opened their own small business last year. The Small and Medium Business Administration on Wednesday said 74,162 new businesses started up in 2012, up 13.9 percent from a year earlier and the highest since statistics began in 2000.

The number of new businesses plunged to 50,855 in 2008 amid the financial crisis, before rising again for four straight years.

The figure grew among all age groups, but newly established businesses by people under 30 and those in their 50s increased at the fastest rates -- the former posted a 24.3 percent growth from a year earlier to 687, and the latter a 17.4 percent increase to 2,723 as baby boomers retired.