Interpretation

A business is deemed to have survived for three years if it is active in terms of employment and/or turnover at any point during the third calendar year following its year of birth.

The three‑year business survival rate is calculated as the number of businesses that survive for three years as a proportion of businesses born in the start year.

Some areas are affected by large numbers of businesses registering or de-registering at the same postcode (such as virtual offices, company formation agents, or foreign online sellers), which can distort local survival rates. The Multiple Business Registrations methodology paper explains this and provides tables identifying postcodes with 500 or more business births or deaths. These registrations cannot be removed from the Business Register, but users may wish to consider their impact when interpreting local figures.

Get the data

You can download this dataset in an XLSX, CSV or CSVW format, or download all available datasets in an XLSX or JSON-Stat format.

The original source data for this indicator can be found on the following page: Office for National Statistics(opens in a new tab).

Information on the strengths and limitations of the Explore Local Statistics service and methods used is available in the quality and methodology information (QMI) report.

Other indicators

Three-year business survival rate is one of 104 local indicators on the Explore local statistics service. See the full list of local indicators.