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How Many Companies Are There in the UK?
There were 5,867,770 businesses operating in the UK at the end of 2019—of this, 1,972,755 were registered as "companies", 404,890 as partnerships and 3,490,130 as sole proprietorships. But what do in-depth figures reveal about different types of businesses around the UK? Below we break down UK enterprise statistics to see the numbers by region and across different industries. Here's what we found.
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How Many Companies in the UK?
As of the end of 2019, there were 1.97 million companies in the UK. But when you also take into account partnerships and sole traders, there are actually 5.87 million businesses operating in the United Kingdom. Nearly 3.5M people work as self employed (aka a sole trader/sole proprietor) and there are over 400K registered partnerships. In fact, 59% of UK businesses are sole proprietors and just one third are companies.
| Number of UK Businesses by Legal Type | ||
|---|---|---|
| Partnership | 404,890 | 7% |
| Company | 1,972,755 | 34% |
| Sole Proprietor | 3,490,130 | 59% |
| Total | 5,867,770 | 100% |
While this is a lot of businesses, a lot of them are quite small, with no employees and low revenues. How many businesses are making decent turnover and employing staff? To find out, let's take a look at the number of businesses that are registered for VAT (which means annual turnover of more than £85,000 in 20/21) and/or PAYE (which means they have at least one employee earning £120 or more a week or getting expenses and benefits).
As of the end of 2019, there were 1.97 million companies registered for VAT and/or PAYE in the UK, plus 440K registered as a self proprietorship and 204K as partnerships. This means that 50% of parterships are VAT and/or PAYE, 98% of companies are VAT and/or PAYE, but only 13% of sole proprietors are large enough (in terms of revenues and/or employees) to be registered for VAT and/or PAYE.
| Number of UK Businesses by Legal Type | Number of VAT and/or PAYE based enterprises | Percentage of Businesses that are VAT/PAYE |
|---|---|---|
| Partnership | 203,940 | 50% |
| Company | 1,969,760 | 98% |
| Sole Proprietor | 443,740 | 13% |
| Total | 2,617,440 | 44% |
How Many Companies in Each Region of the UK?
The region of the UK with the most companies is London, perhaps not surprisingly. At the end of 2019 there were 1,091,885 businesses registered in the capital. London also has the highest rate of businesses per person, with 1,544 businesses per 10,000 adults.
However, fewer London businesses employ people when compared to other regions. For example, in the East Midlands 26.9% of businesses employ at least one person—this is the highest rate in the UK and is noticeably higher than London's rate of just 22.3%.
| Region | Number of Businesses | Percentage with Employees | Businesses per 10,000 Adults |
|---|---|---|---|
| North East | 151,500 | 26.9% | 694 |
| North West | 578,705 | 24.6% | 981 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 428,740 | 24.1% | 967 |
| East Midlands | 356,430 | 26.9% | 912 |
| West Midlands | 479,540 | 24.5% | 1,012 |
| East of England | 598,820 | 23.9% | 1,198 |
| London | 1,091,885 | 22.3% | 1,544 |
| South East | 940,260 | 22.4% | 1,274 |
| South West | 561,645 | 22.2% | 1,218 |
| England | 5,187,520 | 23.5% | 1,147 |
| Wales | 222,160 | 25.5% | 862 |
| Scotland | 333,915 | 29.0% | 739 |
| Northern Ireland | 124,170 | 28.4% | 834 |
| United Kingdom | 5,867,770 | 24.0% | 1,090 |
Number of UK Businesses by Industry
There are more construction businesses in the UK than any other type. At the end of 2019 there were 1,037,280 construction businesses in the UK, most of which were sole proprietors—this accounted for 17.7% of businesses, or nearly 1 in 5.
Businesses working in professional, scientific and technical activities are the next prolific, accounting for 867,880 or 14.8% of all UK businesses.
| Number of UK Businesses by Industry | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mining and Quarrying; Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply; Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation Activities | 36,285 | 0.6% |
| Financial and Insurance Activities | 90,730 | 1.5% |
| Real Estate Activities | 113,205 | 1.9% |
| Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing | 157,595 | 2.7% |
| Accommodation and Food Service Activities | 201,745 | 3.4% |
| Manufacturing | 276,190 | 4.7% |
| Arts, Entertainment and Recreation | 289,885 | 4.9% |
| Education | 306,915 | 5.2% |
| Other Service Activities | 339,830 | 5.8% |
| Transportation and Storage | 360,485 | 6.1% |
| Human Health and Social Work Activities | 360,670 | 6.1% |
| Information and Communication | 369,545 | 6.3% |
| Administrative and Support Service Activities | 512,160 | 8.7% |
| Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles | 547,380 | 9.3% |
| Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities | 867,880 | 14.8% |
| Construction | 1,037,280 | 17.7% |
| All Industries | 5,867,770 | 100.0% |
However, if you look at companies big enough to pay VAT or use PAYE then there are more professional, scientific & technical companies in the UK than any other industry. At last count, this industry accounted for nearly 404K VAT and/or PAYE companies, which is over 20% of all UK-registered VAT and/or PAYE companies.
When it comes to sole proprietors, construction is the biggest industry with a tally of over 60K businesses paying VAT and/or PAYE that are run by the self employed. And VAT/PAYE partnerships are dominated by agriculture, forestry & fishing businesses—there were 68,280 agriculture, forestry & fishing partnerships at last count, which means that a full 1/3 of all partnerships in the UK operate in ag, forestry and fishing.
Number of Businesses in the UK by Size
The vast majority of UK businesses have no employees—76%, in fact. And 91.2% of all UK businesses have fewer than 5 employees. In total, there were over 5.352 million businesses with fewer than 5 employees in 2019 and another 261K with between 5 and 9 employees.
Large businesses with 250 or more employees are relatively rare—there were around 7,600 businesses of this size registered in the UK in 2019 (7,585 of which are companies, 10 of which are sole proprietors and 45 of which are partnerships).
| Number of UK Businesses by Size (Employment Bands) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 0 employees | 4,457,820 | 76.0% |
| 1 | 143,135 | 2.4% |
| 2-4 | 751,210 | 12.8% |
| 5-9 | 261,045 | 4.4% |
| 10-19 | 138,315 | 2.4% |
| 20-49 | 72,975 | 1.2% |
| 50-99 | 23,530 | 0.4% |
| 100-199 | 10,000 | 0.2% |
| 200-249 | 2,055 | 0.0% |
| 250-499 | 3,915 | 0.1% |
| 500 or more | 3,770 | 0.1% |
Growth in Businesses Over Time
There's been a 69% increase in the number of private sector businesses in the UK from 3.467 million in 2000 to 5.868 million 2019 (where private sector businesses are defined as companies including public corporations and nationalised bodies, sole proprietors and partnerships, but excluding Government and non-profit organisations).
The most growth was seen in businesses that don't employ anyone—for instance a "working proprietor" who is an owners of a business and does not work under a contract of employment in return for a wage or a salary. In fact, the number of non-employer businesses grew 89% from 2.356 million in 2000 to 4.458 million in 2019.
| Number of Businesses by Employee Band (thousands) | 2000 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | % Change 2000 to 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All private sector | 3,467 | 5,401 | 5,498 | 5,695 | 5,668 | 5,868 | 69% |
| All SME (0-249) | 3,460 | 5,394 | 5,491 | 5,687 | 5,660 | 5,860 | 69% |
| All small (0-49) | 3,433 | 5,362 | 5,457 | 5,653 | 5,625 | 5,825 | 70% |
| All employers (1+) | 1,111 | 1,312 | 1,325 | 1,367 | 1,389 | 1,410 | 27% |
| Non-employers | 2,356 | 4,089 | 4,173 | 4,328 | 4,278 | 4,458 | 89% |
| Micro (1-9) | 914 | 1,069 | 1,081 | 1,118 | 1,137 | 1,155 | 26% |
| Small (10-49) | 163 | 204 | 204 | 208 | 210 | 211 | 29% |
| Medium (50-249) | 27 | 33 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 33% |
| Large (250+) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 14% |
FAQs
There are 211,290 small businesses in the UK, where "small" is defined as having between 10 and 49 employees. See the growth in the number of small businesses in the UK here.
There are 5,867,770 businesses in the UK; 4,457,820 of these have no employees, and the other 1,409,950 employ at least one person. See the growth in the number of UK businesses here.
There are 7,685 larges businesses in the UK, where "large" is defined as having at least 250 employees. See the growth in larges businesses here.
There are 5,858,030 SME businesses in the UK, where an SME is defined as having fewer than 250 employees. Of these, 4,457,820 have no employees and 1,402,265 employ at least one person. See the growth in SMEs here.
There are 2,718,435 businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE in the UK.
There are 1,972,755 companies in the UK; companies account for 34% of all businesses (the majority of businesses are sole proprietors).
There are 635 insurance businesses in the UK that employ people (not including any companies with 0 employees), 415 of which are considered "micro" companies with just 1 - 9 employees.