Number of private sector businesses in the UK 2000-2022

In 2022 there were approximately 5.51 million private businesses operating in the United Kingdom, a decrease of around 80,000 when compared with the previous year. There has been a net increase of over 1.83 million business enterprises since 2000, when there were 3.47 million. During the provided time period, the largest annual rise in the number of businesses occurred between 2013 and 2014, which saw a net increase of approximately 340 thousand private enterprises.

Employment in the UK private sector

Out of the 31.1 million people in the United Kingdom currently in employment, almost 26.9 million people in the United Kingdom are employed by private sector enterprises, highlighting their key role in the UK economy. Additionally, a significant share of the UK workforce are employed by the 3.85 thousand large companies which employ over 500 people. As of 2020, large companies employed over 9.5 million people despite only composing a fraction of the total number of UK private enterprises.

Retail and wholesale dominate

Over 5 million people were employed in retail and wholesale in 2020, the most of any sector. Retail and wholesale enterprises were also responsible for the highest combined turnover of UK businesses, at almost 1.5 trillion British pounds. The sector with the most enterprises overall was construction, with around a sixth of UK private enterprises belonging to this industry.