Businesses in Scotland: 2022

Business Size

As at March 2022, there were an estimated 360,910 private sector businesses operating in Scotland. The vast majority of these businesses (98.3%) were small (0 to 49 employees). A further 3,835 businesses (1.1%) were medium-sized (50 to 249 employees) and 2,340 businesses (0.6%) were large (250 or more employees).

As at March 2022, there were 358,575 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) operating in Scotland. SMEs provided an estimated 1.2 million jobs, which was 55.9% of private sector employment. SMEs accounted for 99.4% of all private sector businesses and 40.2% of private sector turnover as at March 2022.

Small (0 to 49 employees) businesses alone accounted for 98.3% of all private sector businesses. These provided 43.2% of private sector employment and 26.7% of private sector turnover as at March 2022.

The 2,340 large (250+ employees) businesses provided 44.1% of private sector employment. These accounted for 59.8% of private sector turnover as at March 2022 (Chart 1).

Chart 1: Share of businesses, employment and turnover by size, as at March 2022

As at March 2022, there were 251,475 non-employing businesses in Scotland. Businesses with no employees comprise only the owner-manager(s). Businesses with no employees made up 69.7% of all private sector businesses in Scotland. They accounted for 13.6% of private sector employment and 4.5% of private sector turnover.

As at March 2022, there were 109,435 businesses in Scotland with at least one employee (i.e. employers). Employers made up 30.3% of all private sector businesses in Scotland. They accounted for 86.4% of private sector employment and 95.5% of private sector turnover.

The total number of businesses operating in Scotland includes registered and unregistered businesses. A business must register for VAT if its annual turnover is over the VAT threshold of £85,000 (as at March 2022). A business will register for PAYE if it employs anyone. Unregistered businesses are registered neither for VAT nor for PAYE. As at March 2022, unregistered businesses represented 51.5% of all private sector businesses in Scotland.