About these estimates

A death is defined as a business that was on the active file in year t, but was no longer present in the active file in t+1 and t+2. In order to provide an early estimate of deaths, an adjustment has been made to the latest two years deaths to allow for reactivations. These figures are provisional and subject to revision.

The death rate is calculated using the number of deaths as a proportion of the active businesses.

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.) 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

Business deaths is one of 116 local indicators on the Explore local statistics service. See the full list of local indicators.