Italy has consistently been the European country with the highest rate of self-employment since 1995, in spite of the share of self-employed people in its workforce declining consistently since 2004, from **** percent in that year, to less than ** percent in 2022. Over this time period, Spain also saw its self-employment rate fall consistently, with the southern European country's share of self-employed workers falling behind that of the UK since 2020. Germany is the European country with notably few self-employed workers, as the country's specialization in large industry means that many more workers are employed in medium or large enterprises.

Graph and download economic data for Employment Level - Nonagriculture, Self-Employed Workers, Unincorporated (LNS12032192) from Jan 1948 to Feb 2026 about unincorporated, nonagriculture, self-employed, workers, 16 years +, household survey, employment, and USA.

Counts and proportions of males and females self employed Source: Annual Population Survey (APS) Publisher: Nomis Geographies: Local Authority District (LAD), County/Unitary Authority, Government Office Region (GOR), National Geographic coverage: England Time coverage: 2004 to 2009 Type of data: Survey

In the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group in 2021, 16.2% of workers were self-employed, which is the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups.

Graph and download economic data for Employment Level - All Industries Self-Employed, Unincorporated (LNS12027714) from Jan 1948 to Feb 2026 about unincorporated, self-employed, 16 years +, household survey, employment, industry, and USA.

Global Female Self-Employment Rate by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

As of the first quarter of 2025, approximately 13.5 percent of workers in the United Kingdom were self-employed, a significant fall compared with 2019 when the self-employment rate reached a peak of 15.3 percent, just before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of the first quarter of 2025, the self-employment rate for people aged between 16 and 24 was 4.9 percent, rising to 11.3 percent for those aged 25 to 49, 17.7 percent for the 50-64 age group, and 35.2 percent for those aged 65 and over.

Approximately 16.9 percent of workers in London were self-employed in 2025, compared with 13.5 percent for the UK as a whole.

The average for 2023 based on 177 countries was 40.05 percent. The highest value was in the Central African Republic: 94.54 percent and the lowest value was in Qatar: 0.39 percent. The indicator is available from 1991 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Self-Employment Income by Occupation: Self-Employed Workers (CXUSFEMPINCLB1202M) from 1984 to 2024 about self-employed, occupation, workers, tax, income, and USA.

As of the fourth quarter of 2025, there were around 4.38 million self-employed workers in the United Kingdom. During this provided time period, self-employment in the UK has grown steadily, from 3.2 million in December 2000 to a peak of over five million at the end of 2019. After the COVID-19 pandemic, however, self-employment has fallen to levels not seen since the middle of 2015 and has struggled to recover to its pre-pandemic peak. Demographics of the self-employed There has consistently been more men self-employed than women in the UK, with recent figures showing that over 2.8 million men and over 1.5 million women were self-employed. As of 2024, the most likely age group to be self-employed were those aged 65 or over, with over a third of workers in this age group self-employed. In the same year, around 16.5 percent of workers in London were self-employed, compared with the UK average of 13.1 percent, making London the region with the highest rate of self-employment in the UK. Self-employment support scheme In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK government unveiled various measures to mitigate the economic costs to businesses and individuals. For self-employed workers, this manifested itself as the Self-Employment Income-Support Scheme, which was in its third iteration, or tranche, by December 2020. During the first tranche, which ran from March to July, there were 2.7 million claims made in total, with claims to the second and third tranches numbering 2.4 million and 1.7 million, respectively. As of December 13, 2020, the overall value of these claims amounted to 14.5 billion British pounds.

Graph and download economic data for Employment Level - Total Wage and Salary, Incorporated Self Employed (LNU02048984) from Jan 2000 to Feb 2026 about self-employed, salaries, 16 years +, wages, household survey, employment, and USA.

Self-employment jobs by industry and sex, UK, published quarterly, not seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey data are official statistics in development.

Employees and self-employed, by industry sectors and sex, UK, published quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.

The USA: Self-employment, percent of total employment: The latest value from 2023 is 6.08 percent, a decline from 6.28 percent in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 40.05 percent, based on data from 177 countries. Historically, the average for the USA from 1991 to 2023 is 7.28 percent. The minimum value, 6.08 percent, was reached in 2023 while the maximum of 9.02 percent was recorded in 1991.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Self-Employment Income by Deciles of Income Before Taxes: Third 10 Percent (21st to 30th Percentile) (CXUSFEMPINCLB1504M) from 2014 to 2024 about self-employed, percentile, tax, income, and USA.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, there were around 2.7 million self-employed men and just over 1.6 million self-employed women in the United Kingdom.

In 2025, the self-employment as a percentage of total employment in Sub-Saharan Africa amounted to ***** percent. Between 1991 and 2025, the figure dropped by **** percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

Analysis of self-employment in NUTS1 regions in the UK from the Annual Population Survey.