Business demography: 2022

On 31 January 2024, the StatsWales tables for business births, deaths and active enterprises by industry were updated to include the latest data (2022).

The most recent data in this report is for 2022 and refers to businesses that were active between December 2021 and December 2022.

Main points

• The total number of enterprises active in Wales during 2022 was 104,520. This was a decrease of 1,295 enterprises (1.2%) compared to 2021.
• There were 12,090 enterprise births in Wales during 2022, which is a rate of 11.6%. In comparison, the UK business birth rate was 11.5%.
• There were 11,660 enterprise deaths in Wales during 2022, which is a rate of 11.2%. In comparison, the UK death rate was 11.8%.
• The 5 year survival rate for enterprises born in 2017 and still active in 2022 for Wales was 37.2%, below the UK survival rate of 39.6%. The highest 5 year survival rate was in Northern Ireland (49.0%), whilst the lowest was in the North West (31.6%).
• The 1 year survival rate for enterprises born in 2021 and still active in 2022 for Wales was 91.1%, below the UK survival rate of 93.4%. Wales had the second lowest 1 year survival rate amongst the 12 UK countries and English regions. The highest 1 year survival rate was in London (94.1%), and the lowest was in Northern Ireland (90.2%).

Note

Rates calculated as percentage of stock.