Data / Self-employed workers / United Kingdom

Self-employed workers in United Kingdom

Self-employed workers in the United Kingdom was 13.1% in 2025, according to the World Bank. That is down 0.1 pts from 2024. That is the 149th highest of 181 countries in 2025.

202513.1%
Change on 2024-0.1 pts
Rank149th of 181Countries ranked
Series high15.42017
Series low12.22001

Next release: Friday, 8 October 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.

Self-employed workers in United Kingdom, 1991 to 2025

1213141516199119962001200620112016202120251991: 13.9 %1992: 13.6 %1993: 13.4 %1994: 13.7 %1995: 13.7 %1996: 13.2 %1997: 13.1 %1998: 12.6 %1999: 12.7 %2000: 12.3 %2001: 12.2 %2002: 12.3 %2003: 13 %2004: 13.1 %2005: 13 %2006: 13.2 %2007: 13.4 %2008: 13.3 %2009: 13.6 %2010: 14 %2011: 14.2 %2012: 14.7 %2013: 14.4 %2014: 15.2 %2015: 15 %2016: 15.3 %2017: 15.4 %2018: 15.1 %2019: 15 %2020: 14.5 %2021: 13.6 %2022: 13.3 %2023: 13.4 %2024: 13.2 %2025: 13.1 %121314151619912003201520251991: 13.9 %1992: 13.6 %1993: 13.4 %1994: 13.7 %1995: 13.7 %1996: 13.2 %1997: 13.1 %1998: 12.6 %1999: 12.7 %2000: 12.3 %2001: 12.2 %2002: 12.3 %2003: 13 %2004: 13.1 %2005: 13 %2006: 13.2 %2007: 13.4 %2008: 13.3 %2009: 13.6 %2010: 14 %2011: 14.2 %2012: 14.7 %2013: 14.4 %2014: 15.2 %2015: 15 %2016: 15.3 %2017: 15.4 %2018: 15.1 %2019: 15 %2020: 14.5 %2021: 13.6 %2022: 13.3 %2023: 13.4 %2024: 13.2 %2025: 13.1 %
%. Source: World Bank (modelled estimate), Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-18, published 2026-10-08.
All 35 values
Period%
202513.1
202413.2
202313.4
202213.3
202113.6
202014.5
201915
201815.1
201715.4
201615.3
201515
201415.2
201314.4
201214.7
201114.2
201014
200913.6
200813.3
200713.4
200613.2
200513
200413.1
200313
200212.3
200112.2
200012.3
199912.7
199812.6
199713.1
199613.2
199513.7
199413.7
199313.4
199213.6
199113.9

United Kingdom compared with nearby places

United Arab Emirates: 5.1 %Afghanistan: 83.4 %Albania: 50.3 %Armenia: 33.7 %Angola: 75.9 %Argentina: 25.6 %Austria: 12.2 %Australia: 16.1 %Azerbaijan: 67 %Bosnia and Herzegovina: 22.1 %Bangladesh: 61 %Belgium: 14.6 %Burkina Faso: 82.6 %Bulgaria: 11.8 %Burundi: 84.9 %Benin: 79.8 %Brunei: 7.3 %Bolivia: 66.3 %Brazil: 30.3 %Bahamas: 17.1 %Bhutan: 69.5 %Botswana: 28.1 %Belarus: 6.8 %Belize: 35.2 %Canada: 12.9 %Democratic Republic of the Congo: 85.1 %Central African Republic: 85.4 %Republic of the Congo: 76.8 %Switzerland: 16.9 %Côte d’Ivoire: 71 %Chile: 23.9 %Cameroon: 69.3 %China: 37.7 %Colombia: 45.6 %Costa Rica: 26.6 %Cuba: 24.9 %Cape Verde: 38.5 %Cyprus: 10.2 %Czechia: 15.7 %Germany: 8.1 %Djibouti: 51.1 %Denmark: 7.9 %Dominican Republic: 42.1 %Algeria: 30.2 %Ecuador: 52.3 %Estonia: 12.1 %Egypt: 27 %Eritrea: 52.4 %Spain: 14.5 %Ethiopia: 84.3 %Finland: 12.5 %Fiji: 34.1 %France: 13.3 %Gabon: 32.4 %United Kingdom: 13.1 %Georgia: 46.1 %Ghana: 67.5 %Gambia: 68.6 %Guinea: 81.9 %Equatorial Guinea: 27.5 %Greece: 30.5 %Guatemala: 39.1 %Guinea-Bissau: 75.5 %Guyana: 31.1 %Hong Kong: 7.7 %Honduras: 44.1 %Croatia: 12.7 %Haiti: 76.8 %Hungary: 11.6 %Indonesia: 53.3 %Ireland: 13.4 %Israel: 11.3 %India: 74.9 %Iraq: 31.7 %Iran: 42.9 %Iceland: 13.3 %Italy: 21.1 %Jamaica: 35.7 %Jordan: 11.2 %Japan: 9.1 %Kenya: 64.8 %Kyrgyzstan: 30.5 %Cambodia: 55.5 %North Korea: 62.1 %South Korea: 22.7 %Kuwait: 3.2 %Kazakhstan: 26.1 %Laos: 77.1 %Sri Lanka: 42.1 %Liberia: 78.3 %Lesotho: 38.5 %Lithuania: 11.5 %Luxembourg: 10.3 %Latvia: 13.7 %Libya: 25.9 %Morocco: 40.1 %Moldova: 58.8 %Montenegro: 17.4 %Madagascar: 88.3 %North Macedonia: 16.6 %Mali: 76.4 %Myanmar: 65.5 %Mongolia: 41.2 %Mauritania: 57.4 %Mauritius: 17.8 %Malawi: 61.3 %Mexico: 30.8 %Malaysia: 25.4 %Mozambique: 85.3 %Namibia: 36.5 %New Caledonia: 17.1 %Niger: 89.5 %Nigeria: 86.2 %Nicaragua: 44.3 %Netherlands: 16.8 %Norway: 4.9 %Nepal: 78.6 %New Zealand: 18.4 %Oman: 5 %Panama: 40.6 %Peru: 51.3 %French Polynesia: 18.2 %Papua New Guinea: 78.7 %Philippines: 36.1 %Pakistan: 57 %Poland: 18.9 %Puerto Rico: 12.6 %Portugal: 14.4 %Paraguay: 41.3 %Qatar: 0.8 %Romania: 14.5 %Serbia: 27 %Russia: 6.3 %Rwanda: 40.4 %Saudi Arabia: 5.5 %Solomon Islands: 69.9 %Sweden: 10.2 %Singapore: 12.7 %Slovenia: 14 %Slovakia: 14.9 %Sierra Leone: 88.8 %Senegal: 64.3 %Somalia: 52.2 %Suriname: 22.5 %El Salvador: 35.7 %Syria: 42.4 %Eswatini: 30.2 %Chad: 91.6 %Togo: 76.6 %Thailand: 50.7 %Tajikistan: 31.3 %Timor-Leste: 74.9 %Turkmenistan: 32 %Tunisia: 24.9 %Türkiye: 28.5 %Trinidad and Tobago: 25.7 %Tanzania: 85.3 %Uganda: 80.5 %United States: 6.1 %Uruguay: 28 %Uzbekistan: 45.4 %Venezuela: 40.4 %Vietnam: 53.3 %Vanuatu: 60.6 %Samoa: 44.5 %Yemen: 52.6 %South Africa: 17.3 %Zambia: 71.7 %Zimbabwe: 70.8 %
  • Under 13
  • 13 to 23
  • 23 to 34
  • 34 to 51
  • 51 to 72
  • 72 and over
  • No data
Self-employed workers, 2025, %. United Kingdom is outlined. Same source and period for every area shown. Source: World Bank. Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

Rankings

Definition

Employers, own-account workers, members of producers' cooperatives and contributing family workers, whose pay depends directly on the profits of what they produce, as a percentage of total employment. ILO modelled estimates, ages 15 and over.

ILO modelled estimates: model outputs that fill years without a survey, not survey results. The latest year is a nowcast and is revised as surveys arrive. Includes unpaid family workers, so it is high where small farms dominate and is not a measure of entrepreneurship.

Report a problem with this figure

How to cite

World Bank, World Development Indicators, modelled estimate. Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-18. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

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

World Bank. (2026). Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS) (Self-employed workers, United Kingdom, 1991 to 2025) [Data set]. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS

MLA 9

Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS), Self-employed workers, United Kingdom, 1991 to 2025. World Bank, 8 Oct. 2026, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/self-employed-share/united-kingdom. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

World Bank. 2026. Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS). Self-employed workers, United Kingdom, 1991 to 2025. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/self-employed-share/united-kingdom.

Harvard

World Bank (2026) Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS), Self-employed workers, United Kingdom, 1991 to 2025 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/en/self-employed-share/united-kingdom (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{world_self_employed_workers_united_2025,
  author = {{World Bank}},
  title = {{Self-employed, total (\% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS): Self-employed workers, United Kingdom, 1991 to 2025}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS},
  urldate = {2026-10-18},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/self-employed-share/united-kingdom. Publisher attribution: World Bank, World Development Indicators, modelled estimate. Self-employed, total (\% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-18. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - World Bank
TI  - Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS): Self-employed workers, United Kingdom, 1991 to 2025
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
PB  - World Bank
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS
L2  - https://invokely.ai/en/self-employed-share/united-kingdom
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/en/self-employed-share/united-kingdom.
N1  - Publisher attribution: World Bank, World Development Indicators, modelled estimate. Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SELF.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-18. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
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 self-employed workers in United Kingdom? Cite the source.
get_value {"indicator":"self_employed_share","place":"gb"}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/value?indicator=self_employed_share&place=gb

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

Questions

What is the self-employed workers in United Kingdom?

Self-employed workers in the United Kingdom was 13.1% in 2025, according to the World Bank. That is down 0.1 pts from 2024. That is the 149th highest of 181 countries in 2025.

Where does this figure come from?

World Bank. Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS). Retrieved by Invokely on 2026-10-18.

What was the highest self-employed workers in United Kingdom?

15.4% in 2017, the highest value since 1991 in this series.

Self-employed workers in other countries

Related statistics for United Kingdom

All statistics for United Kingdom | United Kingdom in figures