Millennials are the UK’s leading entrepreneurs, setting up 50% of new businesses in past 11 months

New research has revealed that half of the UK’s newest entrepreneurs are Millennials.

The study found that people between the ages of 25 and 40 have set up 49% of new businesses in the country since July 2020.

That is the largest proportion in the UK, ahead of those in Generation X – currently aged between 41 and 56 – which accounts for 33% of the UK’s newest entrepreneurs.

Baby Boomers – aged between 57 and 75 years old – have set up 9.6% of new businesses, while 16-24 year-olds, AKA Generation Z , are responsible for 7.8% of new companies.

The study was conducted by cloud accounting company Ember, which analysed more than 400,000 records from Companies House over the past 11 months to discover the common traits among the UK’s latest business owners.

In total, more than 227,000 businesses were set up by Millennials, and with approximately 14.2 million people in the UK born between 1981 and 1996, that means that 1.6% of Millennials have started a business in the past 11 months – the highest percentage in the UK. For Gen X, 1.09% of the 14 million people born between 1965 and 1980 have started a business.

In addition, the data reveals that a higher proportion of Gen Z have set up a business than Baby Boomers. There are seven million members of Gen Z who are at least 16 years-old – the minimum age to register a company – which means that 0.51% have set up a business, compared to 0.33% of 13.5 million Boomers.

Ilford had the highest number of new businesses compared to its population, followed by Manchester in second, and Dagenham in third.

Romford is in fourth, Hayes is fifth and Southall six, meaning five of the six most entrepreneurial places in the UK are London boroughs. However overall the capital ranks 25th on the list for ratio of new businesses to population.