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Business births and deaths

Counts and rates of births and deaths of enterprises

Businesses Newcastle North Tyneside South Tyneside Durham Gateshead Sunderland Northumberland
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Business births and deaths in the North East

In 2022 there were 7,250 new businesses formed in the North East LEP area, fewer than in 2021 but the second highest rate since 2017. There were also 6,795 business deaths, the highest rate since 2017. 

Business births outnumbered business deaths for the first time nationally in this dataset in 2022. This is partially because businesses created in 2020 during the pandemic have lower survival rates than in previous years.

The North East was the only region to maintain a higher business birth than death rate adding 455 businesses in 2022. The North East has fewer business overall, so this helps close the gap with the national average, but there is also evidence that both business births and deaths are important for dynamic regional economies.

Per head the North East has a low business birth and death rate compared to most of the rest of the Core Cities, but as a proportion of active businesses the birth rate is slightly above the national average.