Business demography

Number of enterprises and yearly change

• In 2026 there are 46,185 active enterprises in the Lancashire-12 area and in the Lancashire-14 area there are 55,670.

• In the Lancashire-12 area there are 1,075 (2.4%) more enterprises in 2026 than in 2025.

• This includes 300 (5.1%) more in Preston, 125 (3.1%) more in Wyre and 115 (3.3%) more in Fylde.

• The number of enterprises fell by just -10 (-0.3%) in Pendle while in Lancaster the number was unchanged.

• In the Lancashire-14 area there are 1,355 (2.5%) more enterprises in 2026 than in 2025.

Births, deaths and survival rates of enterprises

• In the Lancashire-12 area in 2024 5,005 new enterprises were started (births) while 4,620 ceased trading (deaths) giving a net addition of +385.

• In 2024 there were +205 more enterprises births than deaths in Preston, but there were more business deaths than births in West Lancashire (-130).

• As many as 95.7% of new enterprises founded in 2023 in Chorley survived to 2024, but in Hyndburn the rate was only 92.1%.

• The one-year business survival rate for Lancashire-12, the North West, England, GB and UK were in the range 93.0-93.7% in 2024.

• The three-year business survival rates for Lancashire-12, the North West and England from 2021 (50-54%) were lower than those from 2013 to 2016 (60-63%).

• The three-year business survival rates for Lancashire-12 from 2021 to 2024 was only about 50%, lower than England (54%).

• The five-year business survival rate for Lancashire-12 from 2019 was 41%, higher than England (38%) and the North West (37%) but was lower than the survival rate from 2013-2018 (44%).

All counts in this report have been rounded to the nearest 5 or 10.