UK Entrepreneurship activity hits record high-high led by women but challenges persist
25 September 2025
• 36% of working-age adults are either running a new business or intend to start one within the next three years, the highest level since 1999
• Early-stage entrepreneurial activity by women has seen a threefold increase since 2002, rising from just over 3.5% to 10% in 2024
• Immigrants and ethnic minorities are consistently the most entrepreneurial groups in the UK
• Entrepreneurs with growth and job creation ambitions are substantially more optimistic about Artificial Intelligence
The UK's entrepreneurial spirit is at an all-time high, with over a third of the working-age population (thirty-six per cent) now engaged in or planning to start a business.
Start-up creation, particularly among women, immigrants, and ethnic minorities, reached its highest point in 2024, the highest since the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK report, produced by Warwick Business School in partnership with NatWest, began collecting data directly from individual entrepreneurs in 1999.
The findings are drawn from a sample of 8,229 UK adults aged 18 to 80 surveyed in 2024. This year's study was conducted against a volatile backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, a persistent cost-of-living crisis, and a slow-growth economy, making the resilience of small businesses both inspiring and critical to the UK's economic stability and growth.
