Slight drop in number of Yorkshire businesses

The number of businesses in Yorkshire has declined slightly year on year according to data released by the government today (Wed).

The Department for Business recorded 820 less businesses operating in Yorkshire compared to the start of 2023, a decrease of 0.2%.

The performance of the region mirrored the national picture where, overall, the number dropped slightly to just under 5.5 million. The historical peak came in 2020 when the figure stood at 5.98 million.

The North West suffered the biggest drop (9%) while the North East enjoyed the biggest rise (10%) although the NE still has the lowest number of businesses as a percentage of the population – 751 per 10,000 adults – while Yorkshire sits on 860 and London tops the charts on 1,370.

In all regions and countries, changes were driven largely by changes in numbers of unregistered businesses.