Business Activity

Statistics on the number of active businesses or enterprises, and business 'births' and 'deaths', are produced annually by ONS.  These statistics, available at local authority level, act as a guide to the pattern of business activity, start-ups and closures in the reference year, 2022.

The stock of active businesses in Swansea fallen by 4.4% from 7,735 to 7,395 between 2021 and 2022, with 855 recorded business births and 850 deaths.  Over the year, the stock of businesses also decreased in Wales (by 1.2%) and in the UK (by 0.5%).  Business 'birth rate' and 'death rate' statistics for 2022 are also available, together with a breakdown of active business stocks by broad industry group for Swansea, Wales and the UK.  The most represented sector groups in Swansea in 2022 were 'Construction' (14.5% of business stock, although slightly below Wales averages), 'Professional, scientific & technical' (12.6%) and 'Accommodation and food' (10.4%).

Table 8: Business stocks and activity (Word doc) [27KB]

To enable comparison of business activity between local areas, the stock figures can be expressed as rates per 10,000 people of working age (aged 16-64).  On this basis, using official population estimates for mid-2022, Swansea's current business stock rate of 492 is below that of Wales (548) and England & Wales (710).  Within Wales, stock rates currently range from 358 (Blaenau Gwent) to 779 (Monmouthshire).  In 2022, there were 57 enterprise 'births' per 10,000 working age people in Swansea, below the figures for Wales (63) and England & Wales (83).  The Swansea 'deaths' figure, at 57 per 10,000 working age population, is also lower than Wales (61) and England & Wales figures (85).

Local statistics on enterprise survival rates have also been published in this release (available for one to five year periods).  The latest figures report a one-year survival rate in Swansea (from 2021 to 2022) of 92.9%, between rates for Wales (91.1%) and England & Wales (93.4%).  Five-year survival rates (i.e. for enterprises born in 2017 and still active in 2022) in Swansea are 42.5%, above the equivalent rates for Wales (37.3%) and England & Wales (39.4%)