View the full dataset via the UUEPC Enterprise Dashboard or follow the link below ⤵️ https://t.co/EMGhkdgAWl

This disparity reflects the South East’s dominance in enterprise activity, driven by population density and economic hubs, and underlines NI’s challenge to scale its business base.

London accounts for 19.7% of UK registered businesses, while the South East and East of England made up the top three regions. Northern Ireland holds just 2.9%, the smallest share.

Education and Public Administration account for the smallest number of registrations, showing a continuing shift toward service-based industries.

The Professional Services sector recorded the largest number of UK business registrations in 2025 (0.42m), followed by Construction (0.38M) and Business Support Services (0.22m).

Companies continue to dominate the UK business landscape, making up 76.7% of all registered firms. In contrast, sole proprietors (13.9%) and partnerships (5.9%) represent a much smaller share, underlining the UK’s strong reliance on company-based enterprises

Annual growth in UK business registrations peaked at 8.2% in 2015, adding over 185K new firms that year. Growth was negative in 2023 (-1.5%) and stands at 0.4% in 2025, pointing to stability rather than expansion in the UK’s business base.

In 2025, the UK recorded 2.73 million registered businesses, up 9,845 from 2024 and 30.3% higher than in 2007. Growth was particularly strong between 2013 and 2017 before levelling off after 2020, signaling a shift from rapid expansion to a more stable business environment.

The UUEPC Enterprise Dashboard has been updated with 2025 data on UK registered businesses - covering business counts, employment size, and regional distribution. The update tracks long-term structural changes in the UK business landscape. Explore key highlights below!

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To read more on UUEPC's publication discussing considerations for minimum wage setting in NI, follow the link below ⤵️ https://t.co/g1zYu7lf8Z

Wage floors can help narrow pay gaps across industries. As of 2024, sectors like Accommodation & Food, Retail, and Agriculture have high shares of NLW workers and therefore are more sensitive to increases in the NLW

The following figure shows how minimum wage as % of full-time wages in NI compares to other OECD countries, as can be observed the % in NI is relatively high and considerably above the OECD average

The figure below illustrates NMW and % bite of median hourly wage in the UK between 1999 and 2024, as observed over time the NMW wage has edged closer to the median hourly wage, with it equating to over 65% of it in 2023 ⤵️

Approximately 180 countries have adopted minimum wage policies, a majority on a national basis only, but in some countries, on a regional, sectoral or occupational basis

When National Minimum Wage (NMW) was introduced to the UK in 1999, job losses were anticipated among businesses and economists. However, it is now argued to be a key policy success increasing the income and living standards of millions of low-paid workers since its introduction

In February, UUEPC released a publication discussing ‘Considerations for Minimum Wage setting in Northern Ireland’. Within the publication key areas are discussed, including how minimum wages are set and potential Scenarios for Minimum Wage in NI ⤵️

Find these figures and many others on our portal below ⬇️ https://t.co/aL7hYPcSNV

Finally, higher RQF levels are associated with a higher employment rate. The largest gap between RQF levels has consistently been between "below RQF level 2" and "RQF level 2", with employment rates of 47.2% and 63.0% respectively.

The 50-64 age band in NI illustrated the second lowest employment rate of any UK region as of Q2 2025, with a rate of 65.3% compared to a UK average of 71.5%.