Explore business statistics across 731 UK industries. Compare company counts, growth trends, and regional distribution. All data sourced from Companies House and updated daily.
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Choose an industry from the dropdown to view detailed statistics including company counts, decade trends, top locations, and featured companies.
As of early 2026, there are approximately 5.9 million companies on the Companies House register, of which around 5.3 million are classified as active. The remainder includes dissolved companies, companies in liquidation, and those that have been struck off the register. The number of active companies has grown steadily, with over 800,000 new incorporations in recent years.
The largest sectors by number of active companies are typically professional, scientific, and technical activities (Section M), construction (Section F), and wholesale and retail trade (Section G). Information and communication (Section J) has also seen significant growth in recent years, driven by technology startups. Use the industry selector above to compare exact counts.
London is by far the most common location for registered UK companies, followed by Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and Bristol. However, the registered address does not always reflect where a company primarily operates. Many companies use a London registered office address for prestige while operating elsewhere. The top locations shown in this tool are based on the registered office post town recorded at Companies House.
The statistics shown on this page are derived from the Companies House bulk data feed, which is updated daily. Our system ingests the latest daily snapshot (product 100) every night at 1:00 AM and recalculates industry-level aggregations. Incorporation trends and company counts therefore reflect the most recent data available from the official register, typically with a delay of no more than 24 hours.