Private sector businesses, UK and its nations
Official statistics in development
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.
Private sector businesses, United Kingdom
5,690,265
2025 · employing 28.1 million people
Verified against source, 28 October 2026, 11:50 UTC- United Kingdom
- England
- Wales
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
Source: Department for Business and Trade. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
16 periods, newest first
| Period | United Kingdom | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5,690,300 | 4,996,300 | 194,200 | 361,100 | 138,700 |
| 2024 | 5,499,000 | 4,790,700 | 220,200 | 355,000 | 133,100 |
| 2023 | 5,555,100 | 4,915,800 | 219,000 | 298,300 | 122,100 |
| 2022 | 5,508,900 | 4,821,300 | 218,700 | 340,800 | 128,200 |
| 2021 | 5,590,900 | 4,917,800 | 207,400 | 342,000 | 123,700 |
| 2020 | 5,980,500 | 5,253,400 | 208,800 | 369,900 | 148,300 |
| 2019 | 5,867,800 | 5,187,500 | 222,200 | 333,900 | 124,200 |
| 2018 | 5,667,500 | 5,004,800 | 198,600 | 331,400 | 132,700 |
| 2017 | 5,694,500 | 5,007,700 | 209,000 | 346,200 | 131,700 |
| 2016 | 5,498,000 | 4,827,600 | 221,500 | 324,800 | 124,000 |
| 2015 | 5,401,200 | 4,730,700 | 212,800 | 341,000 | 116,700 |
| 2014 | 5,247,000 | 4,592,600 | 213,200 | 322,700 | 118,500 |
| 2013 | 4,914,400 | 4,288,700 | 189,500 | 326,100 | 110,200 |
| 2012 | 4,817,900 | 4,189,200 | 195,000 | 319,100 | 114,500 |
| 2011 | 4,588,500 | 3,977,200 | 195,900 | 292,600 | 122,700 |
| 2010 | 4,483,000 | 3,887,900 | 190,800 | 285,000 | 119,400 |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Department for Business and Trade
- Check it yourself
- https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/business-population-estimates
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 28 October 2026, 11:49 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/business-population-estimates-2025SHA-256 2e7cff5dec70dd5b817e5964dadc03faf50921cab60ea851f20895a3d7f8b950 · 25,640 bytes
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68dbccc9c487360cc70c9f4e/BPE_2025_detailed_tables.xlsxSHA-256 223790dfd61d41d5866b747f2ea24535cef0db754ee261ae9a2d88bba9f478d7 · 634,622 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 28 October 2026, 11:50 UTC Run at 28 October 2026, 11:50 UTC; 80 of 80 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Department for Business and Trade; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-10-28T11:49:43Z; 2 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 2 of 2 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 80 of 80 figures and the headline reproduced |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 80 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 80 of 80 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches |
| Pass | GOV.UK table is current | latest period 2025-01-01 ended 665 days before retrieval (limit 760), from Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2025: detailed tables (MS Excel) |
| Pass | Table 9 agrees | 5 of 5 figures match the unrounded counts in Table 9, rounded half up to the nearest 100 |
| Pass | ODS edition agrees | 80 of 80 figures match Table 26a of https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68dbccd649e17d00a56ffc17/BPE_2025_detailed_tables.ods |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/business-population-estimates – HTTP 200 |
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.