Private sector organizations are companies, corporations or businesses that are owned by private citizens or groups instead of the government or state. The private sector is made up of every for-profit business that is not owned or operated in any form by the government.
The opposite of the private sector is the public sector. The public sector includes local government offices, government organizations such as the DMV or the IRS, the police force, fire departments, and the military. In most free market or capitalist countries, the private sector is the largest employer of citizens with the vast majority of employees working for privately owned companies.