Metric permalink
Business births minus closures
Part of the Work and Productivity domain. Net business formation rate expressed as birth rate minus death rate in percentage points, indicating whether the enterprise base is growing or contracting.
Latest data
Latest reading
2024
Change between the two latest observations (2023 to 2024), in stress score.
A lower reading is treated as worse for this indicator.
Score composition
Stress score
Since the August 2026 release
What changed on this indicator between the two releases: method only.
Blended from two measured components: (2/3 weight) and trend (1/3 weight); where no trend can be computed the metric is scored on its level alone. Volatility is published as a diagnostic and does not enter the blend. Full formula on the methodology page.
Level · 2/3 weight
Bounds: scored against fixed best/worst limits, used until a metric has about eight years of verified data to rank against.
Trend · 1/3 weight
Measured from the direction and size of the change between the two most recent readings.
Volatility · diagnostic, not blended
50Provisional: fewer than four historical readings are available, so this defaults to a mid range score rather than a measured figure.
Data confidence and provenance
Confidence and source
How much weight to put on the reading, the mean data-confidence across the component metrics (source quality, recency and completeness).
Source
Business demography
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS (Business Demography)
- Series ID
- business birth rate − death rate
- Frequency
- annual
- Accessed
- 13 June 2026
Known weakness
Annual frequency means the indicator lags the economic cycle by up to 18 months; VAT and PAYE registration thresholds mean very small businesses are excluded.
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (Business Demography) (business birth rate − death rate), accessed 2026-06-13.
Historical values
History
| Period | Value | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 0.2 | |
| 2024 | 1.3 |