Inter Departmental Business Register
Details and background of the IDBR, which contains information on all businesses in the UK which are VAT registered and/or operating a PAYE scheme.
Key Results
- The number of Value Added Tax (VAT) and/or Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) registered businesses operating in Northern Ireland in 2025 is estimated to have risen by 1,090 (1.4%) since March 2024 to 81,135. This marked the eleventh consecutive year of increase following a period of decline from 2008 to 2014.
- All four headline industries saw an increase in the number of businesses since 2024. The number of businesses in Production increased by 135 businesses (2.5%), which followed two consecutive years of decline. The number of businesses in Services increased by 1.6% (725), whilst the number of businesses in Construction (11,470) is the highest it has been since 2010.
- Since 2015, the total number of registered businesses operating in Northern Ireland has increased by 13,050 (19%). More than half (58%) of this increase occurred in Services, which amounted to 7,565 businesses.
- The geographical spread of businesses across the 11 Local Government Districts (LGDs) in Northern Ireland remained relatively unchanged, with Belfast having the highest number of businesses (11,815 or 14.6%) and, Antrim and Newtownabbey with the lowest number of businesses (4,340 or 5.3%).
- Of those businesses operating in Northern Ireland, 2.9% (2,325) were owned by an enterprise registered outside Northern Ireland. These businesses accounted for 24% of employees. The number of non-locally owned businesses operating in Northern Ireland has increased by 45% over the 10 years since 2015. Their number of employees increased by 13% over the same period.
- The Business Demography Northern Ireland 2024 results estimate that that there were 6,240 business births in northern Ireland over the year to December 2024, which is a large increase of 16.2% on the previous year. This amounts to a business birth rate (proportion of active businesses) of 9.5%.
- There were 4,790 business deaths during the year to December 2024, which is a decrease of 3.6% on the previous year. This amounts to a death rate of 7.3%.
- The number of business births was greater than the number of business deaths for all 11 local government districts (LGDs).
- The business birth rate is highest for Business administration and support services with the business death rate being highest for the Transport and storage industry.
- Of the four UK regions, Northern Ireland saw the largest increase in its business birth rate (1.2 percentage points) since 2023, whilst the business death rates have decreased across the UK.
- Northern Ireland had the highest five-year survival rate of the four UK regions for registered businesses in 2019.
Current Publications and IDBR Tables
User Consultation
IDBR Background Information
