This article discusses the two main factors, namely, the demographic parameters of enterprises and entrepreneurs, whcih impact on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. The analysis is based on the author's own empirical research conducted on a random cample of 109 small and medium-sized enterprises in southern Poland. The aim of the article is to determine the relationship between, on the one hand, the demographic parameters of enterprises and entrepreneurs and, on the other, the development possibilities of small and medium-sized enterprises. A review of the subject literature allows the author to formulate eight hypotheses, which are verrified using statistical methods