United Kingdom · Company filings
How old are the companies on the UK register?
Nearly seven in ten UK companies on the register were under ten years old on 31 March 2026. The largest group was one to four years old. The average age across the register was 9.2 years.
Sources checked
The dots show the share of the total register in each age band.
Young companies make up most of the register
The age bands place 45.42% of registered companies under five and 68.58% under ten. Companies aged one to four made up 31.67%, compared with 13.75% aged under one. The small group labelled more than 50 years accounted for 1.31%. Source 2 Source 1
The effective register has a different mix
The total register held 5,479,045 companies. The effective register had 4,930,634 and excludes those in the process of dissolution or liquidation. The largest age group among companies in those processes was five to nine years, at 37.78%. This is the age distribution of the group undergoing dissolution or liquidation. Source 2 Source 1
The average age increased from 2021
In table A5, the average for the total register rose from 8.5 years in March 2021 to 9.2 years in March 2026. Companies House notes that the register’s historical composition changed when Northern Ireland joined and that it improved its age categorisation in 2022. Source 2 Source 1
An age at closure answers another question
Companies dissolved or closed during the year averaged 4.93 years old. That figure follows the companies that reached closure during the period. The 9.2-year figure uses the much larger population listed on the register at the end of March. Tracking a group of incorporations over time would be needed to estimate the chance of reaching a given age. Source 2 Source 1