Size analysis of businesses: 2022

Main points

• There were an estimated 253,800 enterprises active in Wales, employing an estimated 1.1 million people.
• The majority of active enterprises were small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with 0-249 employees. They accounted for 99.3% of total enterprises in Wales in 2022. Micro enterprises (0-9 employees) accounted for 94.7% of the total enterprises in Wales.
• Large enterprises (those with 250 or more employees) accounted for 37.1% of employment in Wales compared with 39.7% for the UK as a whole. 
• Since 2003 the proportion of employment in large enterprises decreased by 4.4 percentage points.
• Around 0.6% of enterprises active in Wales were non-UK owned. These enterprises accounted for 14.1% of employment.
• There was considerable variation between industry sectors, with employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing dominated by micro businesses (84.2%) and employment in production industries concentrated in the large size-band (48.3%).