Data / Active enterprises / Scotland

Active enterprises in Scotland

Active enterprises in Scotland was 172,065 in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). That is up 0.1% from 2023.

2024, count172,065
Change on 2023+0.1%
Series high178,7402019
Series low171,8952023

Next release: Friday, 15 January 2027, estimated by Invokely from past publication dates (low confidence), not announced by the publisher. Release calendar

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Active enterprises in Scotland, 2019 to 2024

170K172K174K176K178K180K2019202020212022202320242019: 178,740 count2020: 176,450 count2021: 176,350 count2022: 174,340 count2023: 171,895 count2024: 172,065 count
count. Source: Office for National Statistics, Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-01-15.
All 6 values
Periodcount
2024172,065
2023171,895
2022174,340
2021176,350
2020176,450
2019178,740

Compared with United Kingdom

Place2024
Scotland172,065
United Kingdom2,859,535

Rankings

Definition

Enterprises that had turnover or employment at any time during the year, with or without employees.

Counts enterprises, which can run several local units, under the harmonised Eurostat and OECD business demography rules. Not the same as active_companies (the INE business register count for Spain) or employer_firms (US firms with employees). For the UK it counts every enterprise active at some point in the year, so it differs from registered_enterprises_total (UK Business Counts), a snapshot of the register in March.

How to cite

Office for National Statistics. Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). (2026). Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country (Active enterprises, Scotland, 2019 to 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable

MLA 9

Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country, Active enterprises, Scotland, 2019 to 2024. Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom), 15 Jan. 2026, https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/active-enterprises/scotland-uk. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). 2026. Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Active enterprises, Scotland, 2019 to 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/active-enterprises/scotland-uk.

Harvard

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom) (2026) Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country, Active enterprises, Scotland, 2019 to 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/active-enterprises/scotland-uk (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{office_active_enterprises_scotland_2024,
  author = {{Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom)}},
  title = {{Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country: Active enterprises, Scotland, 2019 to 2024}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/active-enterprises/scotland-uk. Publisher attribution: Office for National Statistics. Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom)
TI  - Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country: Active enterprises, Scotland, 2019 to 2024
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/01/15
PB  - Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom)
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/active-enterprises/scotland-uk
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/active-enterprises/scotland-uk.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Office for National Statistics. Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

What is the active enterprises in Scotland?

Active enterprises in Scotland was 172,065 in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). That is up 0.1% from 2023.

Where does this figure come from?

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). Business demography, UK, Tables 3.1a to 3.1d: count of active enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest active enterprises in Scotland?

178,740 in 2019, the highest value since 2019 in this series.

Active enterprises elsewhere in United Kingdom

Related statistics for Scotland

All statistics for Scotland | Scotland in figures