Data

Business births, deaths and survival in the UK, 2019–2024

How many businesses are started and closed in the UK each year, how the rates differ between regions and how many new businesses are still trading after one to five years. For anyone who buys company data, this shows how quickly a list ages.

Reference years 2019–2024 · ONS business demography, published 20 November 2025 · retrieved on 4 November 2026 · by Martin Adamec

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317,440business births in 2024
280,370business deaths in 2024 (provisional)
2,859,535active enterprises in 2024
38.4%of businesses born in 2019 were still active five years later

Births and deaths per year

Active enterprises, births and deaths in the United Kingdom, 2019–2024. Source: ONS, Business demography, UK: 2024 (reference tables), Tables 1.1, 2.1 and 3.1, row United Kingdom; retrieved on 4 November 2026. Rates calculated by firmdat.co.uk (births or deaths per 100 active enterprises).
Year	Active enterprises	Births	Birth rate	Deaths	Death rate
2019	2,889,115	363,825	12.6%	303,495	10.5%
2020	2,897,115	333,020	11.5%	300,475	10.4%
2021	2,939,675	363,995	12.4%	328,495	11.2%
2022	2,924,685	336,925	11.5%	348,675	11.9%
2023	2,870,295	316,025	11.0%	309,680 *	10.8%
2024	2,859,535	317,440	11.1%	280,370 *	9.8%

* Provisional: the ONS adjusts the deaths of the latest two years for businesses that become active again. All counts are rounded to the nearest 5 by the ONS.

Births and deaths by region, 2024

The table can be scrolled sideways.

Active enterprises, births and deaths in 2024 per English region and nation, sorted by birth rate. Source: ONS, Business demography, UK: 2024 (reference tables), Tables 1.1d, 2.1d and 3.1d; rates calculated by firmdat.co.uk.
Region or nation	Active enterprises	Births	Birth rate	Deaths (provisional)	Death rate
London	595,280	75,550	12.7%	61,245	10.3%
North West	283,620	33,685	11.9%	29,725	10.5%
North East	76,590	9,030	11.8%	7,850	10.2%
West Midlands	228,545	26,880	11.8%	24,255	10.6%
Yorkshire and The Humber	199,980	22,615	11.3%	20,375	10.2%
Scotland	172,065	18,420	10.7%	16,140	9.4%
East Midlands	188,020	19,985	10.6%	19,280	10.3%
East of England	285,540	29,590	10.4%	26,550	9.3%
Wales	100,420	10,105	10.1%	9,710	9.7%
South East	431,000	43,015	10.0%	39,200	9.1%
South West	232,765	22,330	9.6%	21,250	9.1%
Northern Ireland	65,710	6,235	9.5%	4,790	7.3%
United Kingdom	2,859,535	317,440	11.1%	280,370	9.8%

How many new businesses survive

Share of businesses born in a given year that were still active one to five years later, United Kingdom. Source: ONS, Business demography, UK: 2024 (reference tables), Table 4.1, row Total; rates as published, rounded to one decimal place.
Born in	Births	1 year	2 years	3 years	4 years	5 years
2019	363,825	94.6%	74.7%	55.9%	45.0%	38.4%
2020	333,015	92.9%	71.3%	53.0%	44.0%	–
2021	363,995	93.4%	70.4%	53.5%	–	–
2022	336,925	92.3%	68.9%	–	–	–
2023	316,025	93.4%	–	–	–	–

– = not yet observable. Births as published in Table 4.1; for 2020, Table 2.1 (used in the first table on this page) gives a slightly different figure. A business counts as surviving if it is active in terms of employment and/or turnover in the following year.

What the figures show

Turnover of the business population: in 2024, 317,440 businesses were started and 280,370 closed (provisional), against 2,859,535 active enterprises. That is roughly 11.1 births and 9.8 deaths per 100 active businesses in a single year.
Regional differences: the birth rate in 2024 was highest in London (12.7%) and lowest in Northern Ireland (9.5%); the death rate was highest in West Midlands (10.6%).
New businesses are fragile: of the businesses born in 2019, 74.7% were still active after two years and 38.4% after five years.

For company lists this means: the date of the data matters. A list that is a year old already contains businesses that have closed, and it lacks many that were started since. Ask how current every source is and match purchased data with the company status at Companies House before a campaign.

Definitions

Active enterprise: an enterprise that had turnover or employment at any time during the year.
Birth: an enterprise present in the active population of a year that was not present in either of the two previous years.
Death: an enterprise present in the active population of a year that is no longer present in the following two years.
Survival: a business born in a year that is still active in terms of employment and/or turnover in a later year.

Methodological notes

Different from registered businesses. The business demography statistics count active enterprises during a year; the ONS figure of businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE (2,786,985 in March 2026) is a snapshot on one date. Both are on our nations and regions page.
Not company registrations. Incorporations and dissolutions at Companies House are a different measure: a company can be registered without trading, and a sole trader can trade without ever appearing on the register.
More context on causes and long-term trends is in the ONS statistical bulletin.

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:

firmdat.co.uk: Business births, deaths and survival in the UK, 2019–2024. Based on ONS, Business demography, UK: 2024 (reference tables, published 20 November 2025). Retrieved on 4 November 2026. https://firmdat.co.uk/data/business-births-and-deaths/

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