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1.听翱迟丑别谤 statistics in this release

The tables that accompany this release听颈苍肠濒耻诲别:

• register activity for all companies
• the age of companies
• overseas companies with a UK establishment
• register activity for public limited companies (PLCs), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), limited partnerships (LPs) and other corporate body types
• company insolvencies and liquidations
• companies removed from the register
• directors and shareholders
• standard industrial classification (SIC) codes

The statistics in this release are presented by financial year, unless otherwise stated, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. This release focuses on financial year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

We have identified a minor historical discrepancy within one of our statistical tables (Table A3), which we are correcting in this release. This minor error does not change the overall message of the statistics.

2.听惭补颈苍 辫辞颈苍迟蝉听

The main things to note in this statistical release are that:

• the total register size at the end of financial year ending (FYE) 2025 was 5,427,787, an increase of 1.4% compared with the end of FYE 2024
• there were 801,864 company incorporations in FYE 2025, a decrease of 10.0% compared with FYE 2024
• in FYE 2025 there were 726,735 dissolutions, an increase of 9.6% compared with FYE 2024
• the average age of a company on the total register at the end of FYE 2025 was 9.0 years
• private limited companies have accounted for over 95% of corporate bodies on the register for 10 years
• at the end of FYE 2025, the number of overseas companies with a UK establishment increased by 1.9% to 14,574 compared with FYE 2024
• this release covers the first full financial year since Companies House began implementing the 聽on 4 March 2024
• on 19 February 2024, Companies House published a list of changes to fees for incorporation and registration documents which came into effect on 1 May 2024

3. Changes in the companies register

The total register size was 5,427,787 at the end of FYE 2025. This number includes companies in the process of dissolution and liquidation (555,494). The total register increased by 77,028 companies (1.4%) compared with the end of FYE 2024.

The effective register size, which does not include companies in the process of dissolution or liquidation, was 4,872,293 at the end of FYE 2025.

The total register increased in size across all constituent countries of the UK compared with FYE 2024:

• England and Wales by 65,343 companies (1.3%)
• Scotland by 7,064 companies (2.7%)
• Northern Ireland by 4,621 companies (5.2%)

Figure 3.1: The number of companies on the total register reached 5,427,787 by 31 March 2025

Total register size by region, UK companies register, FYE 2025

Source: Companies register activities FYE 2025, Companies House

This graphic shows that by 31 March 2025, there were:

• 5,066,168 companies in England and Wales
• 268,876 companies in Scotland
• 92,743 companies in Northern Ireland

There were 801,864 company incorporations during FYE 2025, a decrease of 88,820 (10.0%) compared with FYE 2024. The number of company incorporations decreased compared with FYE 2024 across all constituent countries of the UK:

• England and Wales by 84,732 (10.2%)
• Scotland by 2,206 (5.4%)
• Northern Ireland by 1,882 (11.1%)

There were 726,735 dissolutions in FYE 2025, an increase of 9.6% compared with FYE 2024.

There were 684,064 more incorporations in FYE 2025 compared with FYE 1987, when we began reporting financial-year data. There were 642,535 more dissolutions in FYE 2025 compared with FYE 1987.

Figure 3.2: Incorporations decreased by 10.0%, while dissolutions increased by 9.6%, during FYE 2025

Incorporations and dissolutions, UK companies register, FYE 1994 to FYE 2025; 鈥淐reation of UK register鈥� refers to the merging of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland registers

Source: Companies register activities FYE 2025, Companies House

During FYE 2025 there were:

• 24,229 insolvent liquidations, a year-on-year decrease of 1.8%
• 12,579 members鈥� voluntary liquidations, an increase of 35.4% compared with FYE 2024
• 39,841 liquidations and other insolvency proceedings in total, an increase of 8.6% compared with FYE 2024

For more information, go to Company insolvency statistics releases.

There is a full breakdown of company statistics for England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the UK in table A1 of the statistical tables that accompany this release. The tables contain figures for FYE 2016 through to FYE 2025. There are separate figures for private companies and public limited companies in tables A2 and A3, respectively. There are liquidation and insolvency figures in table A10.

4.听贬颈蝉迟辞谤颈肠 changes in register size聽

Between FYE 1987 and FYE 2025, the:

• total register has increased by 4,361,487 companies
• effective register has increased by 4,004,993 companies

Statistics for FYE 1987 to FYE 2009 are for Great Britain. Figures from FYE 2010 onwards are for the UK.

We expected the register size to increase when Northern Ireland companies were introduced to the UK register in 2009. However, this may have been offset by the global financial crisis during the same period leading to a slight decrease in the register size overall.

There were several substantial changes to the register between 2008 and 2009, including:

• a change in the administrative system that forms the register in February 2008
• a removal of defunct companies that had spent a long time in the process of dissolution or liquidation, completed in May 2009
• combining the Great Britain and Northern Ireland registers to create the UK register in October 2009
• the final legislative changes introduced under the Companies Act 2006 coming into effect in October 2009, reducing the time taken to dissolve companies and remove them from the register

Together, these changes likely contributed to a sharp increase in the number of dissolutions between FYE 2009 and FYE 2011. This may in turn have affected the sizes of the total and effective registers. Since FYE 2011, both registers have continued to increase steadily in size.

Between FYE 2016聽and FYE 2025, the average annual growth rates for the total and effective registers were 4.6% and 4.3% respectively.

The total register size increased by 1.4% in FYE 2025 compared with an increase of 4.6% in FYE 2024. The effective register size decreased by 0.1% in FYE 2025 compared with an increase of 5.0% in FYE 2024.

Figure 4.1: The total register sizes increased by 1.4%, while the effective register size decreased by 0.1%, during FYE 2025

Total and effective register size, UK companies register, FYE 1994 to FYE 2025. 鈥淐reation of UK register鈥� refers to the merging of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland registers

Source: Companies register activities FYE 2025, Companies House

On 4 March 2024, legislation was introduced to allow Companies House to assist in tackling economic crime under the . The data included in this release is up to 31 March 2025.

More information about the ECCT Act.

Table A8 in the tables that accompany this release shows the:

• total and effective register sizes from 1939 to FYE 2025
• annual number of incorporations, dissolutions, liquidations and insolvencies

5.听础驳别 of companies on the register

The average age of UK companies was 9.0 years on the total register at the end of FYE 2025.

On the total register for FYE 2025:

• 47.0% of companies were under 5 years old
• 69.8% of companies were under 10 years old
• 88.3% of companies were under 20 years old
• 11.6% of companies were over 20 years old

On the effective register for FYE 2025:

• 48.1% of companies were under 5 years old
• 69.3% of companies were under 10 years old
• 88.1% of companies were under 20 years old
• 11.9 % of companies were over 20 years old

Figure聽5.1: Over 30% of companies on the total register were 1 to 4 years old at the end of FYE 2025

Age of companies on the UK companies register, FYE 2025

Source: Companies register activities FYE 2025, Companies House

Since FYE 2011, the average age of a company has remained between 8 and 9 years old.

The average age of a dissolved or closed company has declined from 5.4 years in FYE 2016 to 4.5 years in FYE 2025.

Figure 5.2: The average age of a company on the total register was 9.0 years at the end of FYE 2025

Average age of a company on the UK companies register, FYE 2000 to FYE 2025

Source: Companies register activities FYE 2025, Companies House

Table A5 in the tables that accompany this release shows:

• the ages of companies on the total and effective registers at 31 March 2025
• the ages of companies in liquidation or the course of dissolution at 31 March 2025
• the average age of a company from FYE 2000 to FYE 2025

Table A11 shows the average age of dissolved and closed companies from FYE 2016 to FYE 2025.

Table C3 shows average ages at closure and dissolution across all corporate body types.

6.听罢测辫别蝉 of corporate body on the register

There are 30 types of corporate body on the register. These include corporate body types other than those companies covered by the .

Each corporate body type has a distinct set of requirements, as outlined in various pieces of legislation and royal acts.

Find more information on each company type.

The 3 corporate body types making up the highest proportion of corporate bodies in FYE 2025 are:

• private limited companies
• limited partnerships
• limited liability partnerships (LLPs)

These 3 corporate body types have consistently made up 98% of all corporate body types.

Table 6.1: Private limited companies accounted for over 95% of all corporate bodies on the total register at 31 March 2025

Top 10 corporate body types on the UK companies register, FYE 2025

Corporate body type	Number	Percentage of all corporate bodies
Private limited	5,229,368	92.6
Private limited by guarantee/no share capital	151,046	2.7
Limited partnership	59,675	1.1
Limited liability partnership	52,109	0.9
Charitable incorporated organisation	39,231	0.7
Private limited by guarantee/no share capital (use of limited exemption)	37,808	0.7
Overseas entity	32,054	0.6
Overseas company	14,966	0.3
Registered society	10,770	0.2
Scottish charitable incorporated organisation	6,915	0.1
Other corporate body types	13,804	0.2
Total of corporate body types	5,647,746	100.0

Source: Companies register activities FYE 2025, Companies House

The composition of the register overall has remained stable in recent years in terms of corporate body types. However, there have been some minor fluctuations within individual corporate body types.

Charitable incorporated organisations

Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) were introduced in late 2017. CIOs are an incorporated structure designed for charities and need to be registered with the Charity Commission.

The Charity Commission allowed charitable companies to convert to CIOs. For FYE 2025, there were:

• 39,231 CIOs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (0.7% of all corporate bodies)
• 6,915 CIOs in Scotland (0.1% of all corporate bodies)

Since FYE 2018, the number of CIOs has increased. The average annual growth rate of CIOs is:

• 16.4% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• 11.1% in Scotland

Limited liability partnerships

Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) were introduced in April 2001. The proportion of LLPs has since gradually declined, and they now account for 0.9% of the register.

Limited partnerships

The percentage of limited partnerships on the register grew to a peak of 1.2% in FYE 2019. This has since slowly declined to 1.1% at the end of FYE 2025.

Scottish limited partnerships make up 62.6% of UK limited partnerships on the register.

Find more information on limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships in tables B2 and B4 respectively.

Table C1, in the tables that accompany this release, displays numbers and percentages of all corporate body types on the register from FYE 2016 to FYE 2025.

7.听翱惫别谤蝉别补蝉 companies with a UK establishment

Overseas companies with a UK establishment are companies incorporated outside of the UK with a place of business or branch (鈥榚stablishment鈥�) in the UK through which they carry out their business.

At the end of FYE 2025, there were 14,574 overseas companies with a UK establishment on the total register, compared with 14,299 at the end of FYE 2024. This represents a 1.9% increase.

At the end of FYE 2025, the 3 countries with the most overseas companies on the register were:

• the United States, with 2,723 companies (18.7% of overseas companies on the register)
• the Channel Islands, with 1,986 companies (13.6% of overseas companies on the register)
• Ireland, with 1,320 companies (9.1% of overseas companies on the register)

In FYE 2025, the 3 regions with the most overseas companies on the register were:

• Europe, with 4,635 companies (31.8% of overseas companies on the register)
• the Americas, with 3,145 companies (21.6% of overseas companies on the register)
• the UK Crown Dependencies, with 2,532 companies (17.4% of overseas companies on the register)

Figure 7.1: 18.7% of all overseas companies on the UK register originated in the United States at 31 March 2025

Top 10 countries of origin for overseas companies with a UK establishment, UK companies register, FYE 2025

Source: Companies register activities FYE 2025, Companies House

This graphic shows overseas companies with a UK establishment. The 10 countries with the most companies with a UK establishment at 31 March 2025 were:

• United States 鈥� 2,723 companies
• Channel Islands 鈥� 1,986 companies
• Ireland 鈥� 1,320 companies
• Netherlands 鈥� 669 companies
• Germany 鈥� 646 companies
• Isle of Man 鈥� 546 companies
• France 鈥� 308 companies
• India 鈥� 307 companies
• Cayman Islands 鈥� 296 companies
• Australia - 289 companies

聽There were 846 new registrations for overseas companies in FYE 2025. Of these:

• 220 (26.0%) originated in the Channel Islands
• 99 (11.7%) originated in the United States
• 76 (9.0%) originated in Ireland

By region, the 3 highest numbers of new registrations of overseas companies originated from:

• UK Crown Dependencies, with 235 new registrations (27.8%)
• Europe, with 232 new registrations (27.4%)
• Americas, with 114 new registrations (13.5%)

The top 10 originating countries made up 64.5% of all overseas companies on the total register at the end of FYE 2025.

Table聽7.1: 26% of new overseas company registrations originated in the Channel Islands in FYE 2025

Top 10 countries of origin for new registrations of overseas companies with a UK establishment, UK companies register, FYE 2025

Country of origin	New registrations	Percentage of all registrations
Channel Islands	220	26.0
United States	99	11.7
Ireland	76	9.0
Germany	44	5.2
Marshall Islands	33	3.9
Netherlands	17	2.0
France	15	1.8
Isle of Man	15	1.8
British Virgin Islands	14	1.7
Australia	13	1.5
Cayman Islands	13	1.5
Other countries of origin	287	33.9
Total	846	100.0

Source: Companies register activities FYE 2025, Companies House

Table B1 shows the:

• total number of overseas companies with a UK establishment on the register from FYE 2016 to FYE 2025
• number of new registrations during FYE 2025

8.听础产辞耻迟 the data

The figures in this release give information about the population of companies and corporate bodies in the UK.

Companies and corporate bodies are legal types of business registered at Companies House.

Companies are a group of corporate bodies formed under the Companies Act 2006.

Companies and corporate bodies are registered at Companies House regardless of whether they go on to actively trade.

For more information on companies covered by the Companies Act 2006 and corporate bodies, see聽Definitions to accompany statistical releases from Companies House. This document also explains the incorporation, dissolution and restoration processes.

The statistics in this release include:

• the total number of registered companies
• the number of companies incorporated
• the number of companies dissolved
• historic changes in the size of the companies register
• age of companies on the register
• types of corporate body on the register
• overseas companies with a UK establishment
• the register of overseas entities

This statistics release focuses on the headline messages for the UK.

There are figures for the constituent countries in the tables that accompany the release. These documents also include figures for:

• public limited companies (PLCs)
• limited liability partnerships (LLPs)
• limited partnerships (LPs)
• other corporate body types

This release complements the quarterly release Incorporated companies in the UK. It gives information on companies to which the Companies Act 2006 relates, and on other corporate body types.

Sections 3 to 5 of this statistical release focus specifically on companies. Sections 6 and 7 cover other corporate body types.

Some figures in this release may differ to those in the quarterly 鈥淚ncorporated companies in the UK鈥� publications. This is due to the timing of the analysis. Companies House carries out analyses for the figures in this release later in the year, so more information can be processed and added to the register.

A range of management information tables are due to be published between July and September 2025, containing:

• civil penalties for late filing of annual accounts
• disqualification orders notified to the Secretary of State in the UK
• prosecutions under the Companies Act 2006
• the number of documents filed at Companies House
• annual accounts registered at Companies House by accounts type

9.听骋濒辞蝉蝉补谤测

Find definitions for the main terms used in Companies House official statistics publications.

10.听厂迟谤别苍驳迟丑蝉 and limitations

Companies House statistics are used extensively by government, the public, public bodies and businesses. For example, they are used by:

• government in understanding the likely impact of policy changes and monitoring the impact of economic changes on companies
• businesses in understanding their market share and planning marketing strategies
• banks in developing an understanding of their customer base
• foreign firms in making UK location decisions
• academics to inform research into businesses at local and national level
• a range of public bodies in decision-making and evaluating business-related policies

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the that all producers of official statistics should meet.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Quality

Read our document Quality information to accompany statistical releases from Companies House. It can help you decide if the data is good enough to use.

This document measures the Companies House official statistics against characteristics called data quality dimensions. Companies House uses the聽鈥檚 data quality dimensions. 聽

The document also gives information on how Companies House official statistics relate to other business statistics.

Corrections and revisions to these statistics

We aim to minimise corrections and revisions to our statistical publications but sometimes changes are unavoidable. These changes could be:

• corrections, which are unplanned and occur when errors in either the data or the methodology are found after release of the publication
• revisions, which are generally, but not always, planned, and are the result of improvements in methods or of additional data

We have identified a minor error in one of our statistical tables which we are correcting in this release. The issue we identified was with table A3: Summary of changes in the number of public limited companies on the register, 2015-16 to 2024-25. This does not change the overall message of the statistics.

More information about potential changes to the published data.

The source of these statistics is administrative data. This means the data are often used for operational purposes. Statistical use is not their main purpose. As the main purpose of collecting the data is operational, it is common that some of the values we report on change.

In this publication of the statistical tables, we鈥檒l show corrections by adding the word 鈥榬evised鈥� in square brackets next to figures that have been corrected. However, in the next publication, we鈥檒l remove these.

Consultation

We publish results of the most recent consultation on these official statistics on 天美影院.

11. Future releases

Companies House will publish annual statistics for FYE 2026 on 25 June 2026.

We鈥檒l publish statistics for the period 1 April to 30 June 2025 on 31 July 2025.

We鈥檝e announced the publication dates on the 天美影院 release calendar.

If you have a question about any of these tables or Companies House statistics in general, email statistics@companieshouse.gov.uk.

12. Related links

Companies House statistics newer than 2014
Annual and quarterly statistics produced by Companies House from June 2014.

Annual and monthly statistics produced by Companies House before October 2014, on the National Archives website.

Open data products at Companies House
Information about the open data products that Companies House offers. We update this page regularly.

Our service to find and update company information, which includes advanced search capabilities.

Free, fully documented API, which gives access to real-time updates on companies. We update this information regularly.