Businesses by nation and region in the UK, 2026

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• 2 786 985businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE in the UK (March 2026)
• 3 232 415local units (sites) of these businesses
• 77,3%of businesses are companies (including building societies)
• 317 440business births in 2024

Businesses per region and nation

The table can be scrolled sideways.

Businesses: VAT and/or PAYE based enterprises, counted where the enterprise is generally located (main operating site or head office). The remaining legal forms (public corporations, central government, local authorities and non-profit bodies, 84 505 of them non-profit bodies or mutual associations) are included in the total but not shown as columns. Births and deaths come from the separate business demography statistics and count active enterprises (turnover or employment during the year); deaths in 2024 are provisional. All values are rounded to the nearest 5 by the ONS.

The four nations

What the tables show

• Three regions account for 44,5% of UK businesses: London (552 505), South East (412 080), East of England (276 725).
• Limited companies dominate, but not everywhere equally: the share of companies among registered businesses ranges from 48,0% in Northern Ireland to 86,9% in London. Where sole proprietors and partnerships are common, more of a list consists of individual subscribers under PECR, who need consent or a soft opt-in (regulation 22(3) PECR) before marketing emails.
• Births: relative to active enterprises, most businesses were started in London in 2024 (12,7 per 100 active enterprises) and fewest in Northern Ireland (9,5); the UK as a whole 11,1.
• Local units per business: 1,2 across the UK; most businesses have one site, larger ones several.

For territory planning this means: a UK-wide selection is concentrated in London, South East, East of England. If you want to work a particular region, name the nation or the postcode areas as a filter from the start.

Definitions

• A business (enterprise) is, in the words of the ONS, an organisational unit producing goods or services that has a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making; the ONS counts those registered for VAT and/or PAYE on the Inter-Departmental Business Register.
• A local unit is an individual site of an enterprise, such as a factory, shop or branch.
• Legal status follows the ONS categories: company (including building societies), sole proprietor, partnership, public corporation, central government, local authority and non-profit body or mutual association.
• Active enterprise (business demography): an enterprise with turnover or employment at any time during the year. A birth is an enterprise present in the year but not in the two previous years.

Methodological notes

• Two publications. The counts of businesses (March 2026) and the births and deaths (2024) come from two ONS publications with different reference periods; the number of active enterprises in the demography statistics (2 859 535 in 2024) is therefore not the same as the number of registered businesses.
• Provisional deaths. The ONS adjusts the deaths of the latest two years for businesses that become active again and marks them as provisional.
• Industry figures on this website come from the same 2026 publication by UK SIC 2007; more on the database status page.

How to cite

The figures come from the ONS and are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0; you may reuse them with attribution. Suggestion:

Contact Database: Businesses by nation and region in the UK, 2026. Based on ONS, UK business: activity, size and location 2026 (Tables 1, 14 and 16) and Business demography, UK: 2024. Retrieved on 4 November 2026. https://contactdatabase.co.uk/pl/data/businesses-by-nation-and-region/