DCMS Economic Estimates: Business Demographics, 2024
Accredited official statistics providing an estimate of the contribution of DCMS sectors to the UK economy, measured by business numbers and characteristics.
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About
These economic estimates are accredited official statistics providing an estimate of the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economy, measured by the number of businesses.
Headline findings
In March 2024, there were 590,695 businesses in the included DCMS sectors (21.7% of all UK registered businesses), a slight increase of 1.0% from March 2023. In comparison, the number of UK businesses overall in March 2024 was similar to March 2023 (-0.1%).
Of the 590,695 businesses in the included DCMS sectors in March 2024:
- the vast majority (87.4%) fell into the micro (0 to 9) employment band, a slightly lower proportion than for UK registered businesses in general (89.1%).
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72.4% of businesses had a turnover of less than £250,000, a higher proportion than for UK businesses in general (66.1%).
- 24.1% of business sites in the included DCMS sectors were located in London, a higher proportion compared to UK business sites overall (18.6%).
Content
These statistics cover the contributions of the following DCMS sectors to the UK economy;
- Creative Industries
- Cultural Sector
- Gambling
- Sport
- Tourism industries (constructed on a different basis to the tourism sector estimates in our other economic estimates releases)
Users should note that there is overlap between DCMS sector definitions. Estimates are not available for the civil society sector, because they are not identifiable in the data source used for this release.
Tourism industries estimates in this release are constructed on a different basis to the tourism sector estimates in our other economic estimates and will be larger as they take into account the entire industry rather than strictly tourism activity.
The release also includes estimates for the audio visual sector.
A definition for each sector is available in the published data tables. Further information on all these sectors is available in the associated technical report along with details of methods and data limitations.
Recent changes to this release
We have made a number of changes to DCMS sector economic estimates: business demographics in recent years:
- previous reports have included data on charities registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales, Community Interest Companies (CICs) and the now-discontinued Public Service Mutuals which were defined as civil society organisations.
- previous releases have included estimates of the turnover produced by businesses in each employment band and the number of businesses by foreign-owned status, both of which are not available in this release due to the change in data source from the Annual Business Survey (ABS) to the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR).
Additional information about the change in data source from the ABS to the IDBR in 2022 can be found in the source data change summary note.
We welcome any views on these changes at evidence@dcms.gov.uk.
Released
These statistics were first published on 5 December 2024.
Office for Statistics Regulation
These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in June 2019. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics, and should be labelled accredited official statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (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.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by emailing evidence@dcms.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Pre-release access
The accompanying pre-release access document lists ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
Contact
Responsible analyst: Lydia Ndakotsu
For any queries or feedback, please contact evidence@dcms.gov.uk