Business births and deaths

Introduction

The annual ONS statistical release "Business demography, UK" provides information about changes to the registered business population at national, regional and local levels. These businesses are registered at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for Value Added Tax (VAT) and/or Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and at Companies House. The data source used is the ONS Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), a database of all UK registered businesses that is used in business surveys. 

The starting point for the calculation of business demography data is the concept of active businesses in a reference year. These are defined as businesses that had either turnover or employment at any time during the year. New business registrations during the year are referred to as business births, while those that have ceased to trade are known as business deaths. Within the release and in this report, a "business" has the same meaning as an "enterprise". Both represent an organisational unit producing goods or services that has a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making.

The business birth and death rates are calculated using the number of births and deaths as proportions of the number of active businesses. For some purposes, population-based rates are used to compare areas. In this report we include births per 10,000 working age (16-64) residents.

Within this report, North East is used to describe the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority area.

Births and deaths of North East businesses

The number of North East business births in 2024 was higher than the number of deaths. This was true in all seven local authority areas and in four of the five previous years (the exception was 2023).

Geographical comparisons

The 2024 North East business birth rate (expressed as a percentage of active businesses) was higher than the national equivalent. This had also been true in each of the previous four years. In contrast, the North East population-based business birth rate was lower than nationally and had been so throughout the previous five years.

Survival rates of new businesses

The latest North East business survival rates have been similar to the national equivalents. The one-year rate was slightly lower with the five-year rate being slightly higher.

Further analysis

The evidence hub includes other data reports that provide information about North East businesses. In particular, the private sector business count report includes information about the size, location and sector of registered North East businesses.

Most of the raw data for this report can be downloaded from the ONS.