{
 "id": "businesses-by-nation",
 "title": "Private sector businesses, UK and its nations",
 "category": "economy",
 "summary": "Private sector businesses in the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland at the start of each year since 2010, from the Department for Business and Trade's business population estimates.",
 "unit": "count",
 "chart": "line",
 "volatile": false,
 "status": "Official statistics in development",
 "notes": [
  "Every private sector business, from sole traders without employees to the largest employers, counted at the start of each year. The figures are rounded to the nearest 100, so the nations may not add up exactly to the UK.",
  "The Department for Business and Trade publishes these estimates as official statistics in development since 2024; the headline counts from its regional table are unrounded."
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "publisher": "Department for Business and Trade",
  "publisher_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-and-trade",
  "source_page": "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/business-population-estimates",
  "licence": "OGL-3.0",
  "licence_name": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T11:49:43Z",
  "raw_files": [
   {
    "name": "page.json",
    "url": "https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2025",
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    "bytes": 25640,
    "content_type": "application/json"
   },
   {
    "name": "table.xlsx",
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 },
 "meta": {
  "latest_period": "2025-01-01",
  "table_9": {
   "United Kingdom": 5690265.0,
   "England": 4996260.0,
   "Wales": 194200.0,
   "Scotland": 361075.0,
   "Northern Ireland": 138735.0
  },
  "govuk_page": "/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2025",
  "govuk_page_title": "Business population estimates 2025",
  "attachment_title": "Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2025: detailed tables (MS Excel)"
 },
 "headline": {
  "label": "Private sector businesses, United Kingdom",
  "value": 5690265.0,
  "period": "2025",
  "note": "employing 28.1 million people"
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "name": "United Kingdom",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2010",
     "v": 4483000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2011",
     "v": 4588500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2012",
     "v": 4817900.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2013",
     "v": 4914400.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2014",
     "v": 5247000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2015",
     "v": 5401200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2016",
     "v": 5498000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2017",
     "v": 5694500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2018",
     "v": 5667500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2019",
     "v": 5867800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2020",
     "v": 5980500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2021",
     "v": 5590900.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2022",
     "v": 5508900.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2023",
     "v": 5555100.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2024",
     "v": 5499000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2025",
     "v": 5690300.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "England",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2010",
     "v": 3887900.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2011",
     "v": 3977200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2012",
     "v": 4189200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2013",
     "v": 4288700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2014",
     "v": 4592600.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2015",
     "v": 4730700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2016",
     "v": 4827600.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2017",
     "v": 5007700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2018",
     "v": 5004800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2019",
     "v": 5187500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2020",
     "v": 5253400.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2021",
     "v": 4917800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2022",
     "v": 4821300.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2023",
     "v": 4915800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2024",
     "v": 4790700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2025",
     "v": 4996300.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Wales",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2010",
     "v": 190800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2011",
     "v": 195900.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2012",
     "v": 195000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2013",
     "v": 189500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2014",
     "v": 213200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2015",
     "v": 212800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2016",
     "v": 221500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2017",
     "v": 209000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2018",
     "v": 198600.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2019",
     "v": 222200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2020",
     "v": 208800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2021",
     "v": 207400.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2022",
     "v": 218700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2023",
     "v": 219000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2024",
     "v": 220200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2025",
     "v": 194200.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Scotland",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2010",
     "v": 285000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2011",
     "v": 292600.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2012",
     "v": 319100.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2013",
     "v": 326100.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2014",
     "v": 322700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2015",
     "v": 341000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2016",
     "v": 324800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2017",
     "v": 346200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2018",
     "v": 331400.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2019",
     "v": 333900.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2020",
     "v": 369900.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2021",
     "v": 342000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2022",
     "v": 340800.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2023",
     "v": 298300.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2024",
     "v": 355000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2025",
     "v": 361100.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Northern Ireland",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "2010",
     "v": 119400.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2011",
     "v": 122700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2012",
     "v": 114500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2013",
     "v": 110200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2014",
     "v": 118500.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2015",
     "v": 116700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2016",
     "v": 124000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2017",
     "v": 131700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2018",
     "v": 132700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2019",
     "v": 124200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2020",
     "v": 148300.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2021",
     "v": 123700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2022",
     "v": 128200.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2023",
     "v": 122100.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2024",
     "v": 133100.0
    },
    {
     "x": "2025",
     "v": 138700.0
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}