Statistics from the FSB

• There were 132,040 businesses in Northern Ireland in 2007 (BERR).
  
• Of these 131,935 (99.9%) are small businesses (fewer than 250 employees) (BERR).
  
• 130,990 (97.7%) are micro-businesses (fewer than 20 employees) (BERR).
  
• Nearly 95% employ fewer than 10 people.

Northern Ireland has the highest concentration of SMEs (small and medium sizes enterprises with fewer than 250 employees) in the UK, accounting for 81% of all private sector employment, and 79% of all private sector turnover (BERR).

In contrast, less than 1% of the private sector consists of large firms (250+ employees), which employ less than 20% of total employment, and account for 21% of turnover.

Small businesses employ65% of the private sector workforce in Northern Ireland, compared to 62% in Wales, 48% in Scotland and 46% in England (BERR).

Small businesses account for a greater proportion of turnovercompared to the UK as a whole, contributing 60% of all private sector turnover, again higher than Wales (46%), Scotland (40%) and England (36%) (BERR).

54.5% (£7.35bn) of Gross Value Added(GVA) was produced by small businesses (0 – 49 employees) and a further 27.1% by medium-sized enterprises (50 – 249 employees), a total of 81.6%. (2004 NI Annual Business Inquiry)