Business counts

In 2019 there were 52,375 private sector enterprises in the North East LEP area. 

• This is equivalent to 319 private sector enterprises for every 10,000 adults in the North East
• The North East has fewer private sector enterprises per head than England, England excluding London and the other core city LEPs
• If the North East LEP had the same rate of private sector enterprises per capita as England excluding London, there would be an additional 26,200 enterprises.

Looking at the private sector enterprises in the North East LEP area in more detail, North East businesses tended, on average, to be larger than elsewhere in England in 2019:

• In common with the national picture, the majority of North East enterprises employed 0 to 4 people. There were 38,485 enterprises in this category, accounting for 73.5% of all private sector enterprises. This, however, is a smaller proportion than in England excluding London (77.8%) or England (78.7%)
• A further 7,325 enterprises in the North East were larger micro-enterprises (employing 5 to 9 people), a higher proportion than nationally (14.0% compared to 11.6% in England excluding London and 11.1% in England)
• About 6.8% of North East enterprises employed 10 to 19 people and a further 3.6% employed 20 to 49. These were, again, larger percentages than the 5.7% and 3.0% in England excluding London and 5.5% and 2.9% in England as a whole
• About 895 North East enterprises were medium-sized in 2019 (employing 50 to 249) and 210 were large (employing 250 or over). Together they made up 2.1% of North East enterprises, higher than both national comparisons (1.8%).  

Within the North East, the number of private sector enterprises for every 10,000 adults is below that of England excluding London in all seven local authority areas. It ranges from 246 in Sunderland to 418 in Northumberland.