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 Pound 100,000, whilst just 12.8% (10,415) had a turnover over Pound 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 nonNI 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.
