Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment was 16.29 % in 2025. ▼ Falling

Latest (2025)
16.29 %
Change on year
down 0.1%
World rank
60th
of 68 countries
All-time high
19.43 %
in 2014
All-time low
16.15 %
in 2022
Years of data
21
2005–2025

Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 2005–2025

051015202005201520252005: 17.4 %2006: 17.6 %2007: 17.8 %2008: 17.8 %2009: 18 %2010: 18.4 %2011: 18.5 %2012: 19 %2013: 18.6 %2014: 19.4 %2015: 19 %2016: 19.2 %2017: 19.2 %2018: 18.8 %2019: 18.7 %2020: 18 %2021: 16.6 %2022: 16.1 %2023: 16.4 %2024: 16.3 %2025: 16.3 %

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Measured in %.

Analysis

The most recent figure for share of self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is 16.29 %, measured in 2025.

That represents a change of down 0.1% on the previous year and down 14.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, share of self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland peaked at 19.43 % in 2014 and was at its lowest, 16.15 %, in 2022.

That places United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 60th out of 68 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 21 years of available data.

Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, year by year

Annual values for Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in [industry] by [sex]: Total employment — Value — Male — All age ranges or no breakdown by age — National in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 2005 to 2025.
Year % Change
2005 17.44 %
2006 17.59 % +0.9%
2007 17.76 % +1.0%
2008 17.78 % +0.1%
2009 18.04 % +1.5%
2010 18.37 % +1.8%
2011 18.5 % +0.7%
2012 19.01 % +2.8%
2013 18.55 % -2.4%
2014 19.43 % +4.7%
2015 19.01 % -2.2%
2016 19.19 % +0.9%
2017 19.21 % +0.1%
2018 18.78 % -2.2%
2019 18.66 % -0.6%
2020 17.97 % -3.7%
2021 16.56 % -7.8%
2022 16.15 % -2.5%
2023 16.37 % +1.4%
2024 16.31 % -0.4%
2025 16.29 % -0.1%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 17.72 % 17.44 % 18.04 % 5
2010s 18.87 % 18.37 % 19.43 % 10
2020s 16.61 % 16.15 % 17.97 % 6

Countries ranked near United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

  1. 57 Switzerland 18.47 % compare
  2. 58 Portugal 17.91 % compare
  3. 59 Austria 17.11 % compare
  4. 61 Israel 15.9 % compare
  5. 62 France 15.73 % compare
  6. 63 Jordan 13.17 % compare

See the full ranking of 77 places →

More economy & growth data for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

All data for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Share of self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was 16.29 % in 2025, according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
What is the highest share of self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment recorded in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
The highest recorded value was 19.43 % in 2014.
What is the lowest share of self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment recorded in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
The lowest recorded value was 16.15 % in 2022.
How does United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland rank for share of self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment?
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ranks 60th out of 68 countries with data for 2025.
Is share of self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment rising or falling in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?
Over the last ten years it is down 14.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland data come from?
The figures come from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, published as part of Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in [industry] by [sex]: Total employment — Value — Male — All age ranges or no breakdown by age — National. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 21 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Statizoid, drawing on Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved 18 September 2026, from https://economy.statizoid.com/stat/share-of-self-employed-people-in-industry-out-of-total-employment-in-industry-by-sex-5/united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://economy.statizoid.com/stat/share-of-self-employed-people-in-industry-out-of-total-employment-in-industry-by-sex-5/united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland/">Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Share of Self-employed people in [industry] out of total employment in [industry] by [sex]: Total employment — Value — Male — All age ranges or no breakdown by age — National
Unit
%
Source
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (FAO)
Coverage
77 places, 1,154 data points, 2000–2025
Last refreshed

The Suite of Gender Indicators presents a set of indicators relevant to agrifood systems that are disaggregated by sex, with the aim of highlighting gender differences across agrifood systems. The initial set of indicators is based on those used in FAO’s 2023 Status of Women in Agrifood Systems (SWAFS) report and on the recommendations of an expert consultation held in December 2023, and covers key dimensions including economic participation, governance, agency, social norms, assets and services, education, health, and nutrition. Indicator selection was informed by expert judgment and by the availability of data with sufficient geographic and temporal coverage to enable meaningful comparisons across regions and over time. While most indicators are produced and published by FAO and other international organizations, the objective of this domain is to provide a one-stop shop for sex-disaggregated data on agrifood systems.