Data
How many companies are live on the UK company register, how many of them are active or on their way out, which company types dominate and in which industries the companies say they work. Counted from the free Companies House snapshot.
Snapshot of 1 November 2026 · counted and retrieved on 4 November 2026 · by Martin Adamec
| Status | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Active | 5,179,256 | 90.7% |
| Active – Proposal to Strike off | 417,325 | 7.3% |
| Liquidation | 107,871 | 1.9% |
| Administration, receivership or voluntary arrangement | 7,327 | 0.1% |
| All live companies | 5,711,779 | 100.0% |
“Active – Proposal to Strike off” means that striking the company off the register has been proposed; the company is still live but may be dissolved. The last row combines administration, receivership and voluntary arrangements.
| Company type | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Private limited company (Ltd) | 5,283,363 | 92.5% |
| Private company limited by guarantee without share capital | 154,555 | 2.7% |
| Limited partnership (LP) | 61,162 | 1.1% |
| Limited liability partnership (LLP) | 49,867 | 0.9% |
| Community interest company (CIC) | 45,753 | 0.8% |
| Charitable incorporated organisation (CIO and SCIO) | 49,021 | 0.9% |
| Overseas entity | 30,166 | 0.5% |
| Registered society | 10,770 | 0.2% |
| Private unlimited company | 4,806 | 0.1% |
| Public limited company (PLC) | 4,470 | 0.1% |
| Other types (Royal Charter, ICVC, Scottish partnership and others) | 17,846 | 0.3% |
Companies limited by guarantee without share capital include the two categories with and without the exemption from using “Limited” in the name.
| SIC division | Title | Companies | Share of active |
|---|---|---|---|
| 68 | Real estate activities | 631,159 | 11.3% |
| 47 | Retail trade | 432,264 | 7.7% |
| 43 | Specialised construction activities | 304,465 | 5.4% |
| 62 | Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 291,721 | 5.2% |
| 70 | Activities of head offices; management consultancy | 276,256 | 4.9% |
| 56 | Food and beverage service activities | 240,193 | 4.3% |
| 41 | Construction of buildings | 222,809 | 4.0% |
| 96 | Other personal service activities | 202,681 | 3.6% |
| 64 | Financial service activities | 197,688 | 3.5% |
| 82 | Office administrative and business support activities | 196,518 | 3.5% |
A company can give up to four SIC codes; only the first is counted here. 231,826 live companies gave no SIC code (“None Supplied”) and 103,488 gave the code 99999 for dormant companies. The SIC code is supplied by the company itself, as the value “None Supplied” shows.
The free BasicCompanyData file lists live companies with company name and number, registered office address, company type, status, country of origin, incorporation date, accounts and confirmation statement dates, numbers of charges, up to four SIC codes and previous names. It is updated monthly. It contains no phone numbers, email addresses or websites. The download page states no licence; Companies House said on its forum that it “imposes no rules or requirements on how the information on the public register is used”. Data protection law still applies to names and addresses of individuals.
How we use the snapshot: we match it with our records to add the company number, company type and status; the matching is still in progress, see the database status.
The counts are our own counts of the official Companies House file. Suggestion:
firmdat.co.uk: The Companies House register in figures. Based on Companies House, BasicCompanyDataAsOneFile-2026-11-01 (live companies), counted by firmdat.co.uk. Retrieved on 4 November 2026. https://firmdat.co.uk/data/companies-house-register/
Our exports combine addresses, phone numbers, websites and email addresses with the company number where the match is confirmed. Name the industry, region and fields you need.
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