Businesses in Scotland: 2024

Introduction

This publication provides an estimate of the number of businesses operating in Scotland. ‘Businesses in Scotland’ breaks down the Scottish business stock by business size and industry sector. There are also statistics by country of ownership, local authority area and urban/rural area.

The total number of businesses operating in Scotland includes registered and unregistered businesses. Registered businesses are businesses that are registered for Value Added Tax (VAT) and/or Pay As You Earn (PAYE). Unregistered businesses are registered neither for VAT nor for PAYE. Unregistered businesses are the smallest businesses that have a turnover below the VAT threshold (£85,000) and do not employ others.

Estimation of Unregistered Businesses

Data on unregistered businesses are estimated and therefore subject to uncertainty, as are total business estimates that combine data from registered and unregistered businesses. The Annual Population Survey (APS) is one of the key sources for estimating unregistered businesses. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have recently conducted analysis to assess the impact of falling sample sizes over recent years on the quality of APS estimates. ONS state that although the APS estimates are robust at National and headline regional level, there are concerns with the quality of estimates for smaller groups of the population.

It is still appropriate to use the unregistered estimates included in this release. However, users are advised to note the increased uncertainty around these estimates in recent years.

An Accredited Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

These statistics are accredited official statistics. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has independently reviewed and accredited these statistics as complying with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The OSR published a report accrediting Businesses in Scotland in March 2012. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the OSR. OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.