Data / Enterprise births / Scotland

Enterprise births in Scotland

Enterprise births in Scotland was 18,420 in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). That is up 0.8% from 2023.

2024, count18,420
Change on 2023+0.8%
Series high20,6802019
Series low16,8502020

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

Get an email when a new figure is out or this one is revised.
Keep it in a collection in your library.

Enterprise births in Scotland, 2019 to 2024

16K17K18K19K20K21K2019202020212022202320242019: 20,680 count2020: 16,850 count2021: 18,910 count2022: 18,870 count2023: 18,275 count2024: 18,420 count16K17K18K19K20K21K2019202120242019: 20,680 count2020: 16,850 count2021: 18,910 count2022: 18,870 count2023: 18,275 count2024: 18,420 count
count. Source: Office for National Statistics, Business demography, UK, Tables 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Retrieved 2026-10-12, published 2026-01-15.
All 6 values
Periodcount
202418,420
202318,275
202218,870
202118,910
202016,850
201920,680

Compared with United Kingdom

Place2024
Scotland18,420
United Kingdom317,440

Scotland compared with nearby places

North East: 9,030 countNorth West: 33,685 countYorkshire and The Humber: 22,615 countEast Midlands: 19,985 countWest Midlands: 26,880 countEast of England: 29,590 countLondon: 75,550 countSouth East: 43,015 countSouth West: 22,330 countNorthern Ireland: 6,235 countScotland: 18,420 countWales: 10,105 count
  • Under 12K
  • 12K to 21K
  • 21K to 25K
  • 25K to 33K
  • 33K and over
Enterprise births, 2024, count. Scotland is outlined. Same source and period for every area shown. Source: Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). Boundaries: Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2024.

Rankings

Definition

New enterprises created during the year from scratch. Enterprises formed by a merger, break-up or change of legal form, and enterprises reactivated within two years, are not births.

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). Not comparable with companies_created (companies registered in Spain) or business_applications (US applications for an employer number).

Report a problem with this figure

How to cite

Office for National Statistics. Business demography, UK, Tables 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new 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 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country (Enterprise births, 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 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country, Enterprise births, 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/enterprise-births/scotland-uk. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). 2026. Business demography, UK, Tables 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Enterprise births, 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/enterprise-births/scotland-uk.

Harvard

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom) (2026) Business demography, UK, Tables 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country, Enterprise births, Scotland, 2019 to 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/enterprise-births/scotland-uk (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{office_enterprise_births_scotland_2024,
  author = {{Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom)}},
  title = {{Business demography, UK, Tables 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country: Enterprise births, 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/enterprise-births/scotland-uk. Publisher attribution: Office for National Statistics. Business demography, UK, Tables 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new 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 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country: Enterprise births, 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/enterprise-births/scotland-uk
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/enterprise-births/scotland-uk.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Office for National Statistics. Business demography, UK, Tables 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new 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  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

What is the latest enterprise births in Scotland? Cite the source.
get_value {"indicator":"enterprise_births","place":"gb-region-s92000003"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/value?indicator=enterprise_births&place=gb-region-s92000003

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

What is the enterprise births in Scotland?

Enterprise births in Scotland was 18,420 in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). That is up 0.8% from 2023.

Where does this figure come from?

Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). Business demography, UK, Tables 1.1a to 1.1d: count of births of new enterprises by district, county and unitary authority within region and country. Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-12.

What was the highest enterprise births in Scotland?

20,680 in 2019, the highest value since 2019 in this series.

Enterprise births elsewhere in United Kingdom

Related statistics for Scotland

All statistics for Scotland | Scotland in figures