Northern Ireland Inter-Departmental Business Register Statistics 2025
Date published:
The latest Northern Ireland Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) statistics were released this morning by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA).
The bulletin, including interactive charts, can be accessed on the NISRA website.
The IDBR details all businesses that are registered for Value Added Tax (VAT) and/or operating a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme in the UK.
Key points from the 2025 Northern Ireland Inter-Departmental Business Register are:
The number of businesses operating in Northern Ireland increased by 1.4% over the year to March 2025.
- The number of VAT and/or PAYE registered businesses operating in Northern Ireland is estimated to have risen by 1,090 (1.4%) to 81,135. This marked the eleventh consecutive year of increase following a period of decline from 2008 to 2014.
Most businesses in Northern Ireland were micro-sized businesses.
- In March 2025, most businesses (89.3% or 72,465) in Northern Ireland were micro-sized businesses (less than 10 employees). Businesses with 50 or more employees accounted for 2.2% of businesses (1,750).
- Four in ten businesses in Northern Ireland (39.6% or 32,140) had a turnover of under than £100,000, whilst just 12.8% (10,415) had a turnover over £1 million.
The Production sector saw the largest growth in percentage terms of the four headline industries over the year to 2025.
- All four headline industries saw an increase in the number of businesses since 2024. The number of businesses within Production grew by 135 to 5,580 following two consecutive years of decline. This amounted to the largest percentage growth of 2.5% out of the four headline industries.
- The largest absolute growth was in Services (725 businesses or 1.6%), with Agriculture seeing growth for the fourth consecutive year (140 businesses or 0.7%). The number of businesses within Construction reached its highest since 2010, increasing by 0.8% to 11,470.
The geographical spread of businesses across the 11 Local Government Districts (LGDs) remained relatively unchanged, with Belfast (14.6%) making up the highest proportion and Antrim and Newtownabbey (5.3%) the lowest.
- Despite the increase in the total number of businesses across Northern Ireland in 2025, two of the eleven LGDs saw a small decline, the largest of these being seen in Mid and East Antrim (20 businesses or 0.4%), with Newry, Mourne and Down seeing a similar small decrease of 15 businesses (0.2%). The largest growth in percentage terms was seen in Derry City and Strabane (3.5% or 195 businesses), whilst the largest absolute change was witnessed in Belfast (370 businesses or 3.2%).
- Belfast remained the LGD with the most businesses (11,815), accounting for 14.6% of all VAT and/or PAYE registered businesses operating in Northern Ireland in 2025. The most recent Business Register and Employment Survey (2022) showed that 29.8% of all employee jobs across Northern Ireland were based in the Belfast LGD.
Of the 81,135 businesses operating in Northern Ireland, 2,325 (2.9%) were non‑NI owned.
- The number of registered businesses operating in Northern Ireland, owned by an enterprise registered outside of Northern Ireland, accounted for 2.9% of the business population and one-quarter (24.2%) of employees.
- Non-Northern Irish-owned businesses increased by 20.2% (390) over the five years to 2025. The number of employees working within these enterprises increased markedly by 8.3% (15,170) over the same period, although it did decrease slightly by 0.8% in the twelve months to March 2025.
Notes to editors:
1. The IDBR covers most of the economy including the Agriculture, Production, Construction and Service sectors. It does not hold details on those small businesses that fall below the VAT threshold (£90,000 in 2024/2025) and do not operate a PAYE scheme.
2. Many self-employed workers will not be included on the IDBR. Latest figures published by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), which include an estimate of the number of unregistered businesses in the private sector, indicate that at the start of 2024 the number of unregistered businesses in Northern Ireland was 57,770 (47,295 in 2023). Further information is available at Business population estimates 2024.
3. A snapshot of the IDBR is taken in March each year to produce statistics on the number of businesses operating in Northern Ireland. These statistics are presented in the Northern Ireland IDBR report and associated tables include industry, size, legal status, location, and foreign ownership data. Information on foreign owned businesses operating in the UK is obtained by the Office for National Statistics from Dun and Bradstreet, a market information company.
4. A business is assigned to a geographical location within Northern Ireland based on the address of the site which reports Northern Ireland activity. This is usually the main operating site or ‘head office’ within Northern Ireland.
5. The full Northern Ireland Inter-Departmental Business Register statistics bulletin is available on the NISRA website.
6. The most recent Northern Ireland Business Demography report, which looks at business registrations and de-registrations on the IDBR, is available on the NISRA website.
7. For media enquiries contact the Department for the Economy Press Office at pressoffice@economy-ni.gov.uk
8. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.
9. To keep up to date with news from the Department for the Economy, you can follow them on the following social media channels:
- X – @Economy_NI
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- LinkedIn – Department for the Economy NI
10. Feedback is welcomed and should be addressed to: Responsible statistician: Neil Mulhern, Economic & Labour Market Statistics Branch (ELMS), neil.mulhern@nisra.gov.uk or Tel: 028 90255196.
11. Follow NISRA on X and Facebook - @NISRA