More than half of the companies started in Wiltshire failed to survive in business up to the end of 2019.
Office for National Statistics data shows 2,395 businesses in Wiltshire were set up in 2014 – but after three years 1,550 were still active, and by 2019 just 1,100 remained.
That equates to a five-year survival rate of 46 per cent.
Across the UK, the five-year survival rate to 2019 was 43 per cent.
Survival rates for businesses in clothes manufacturing, food services and food services such as restaurants were among the lowest nationally.
Last year, 2,220 new businesses were launched in Wiltshire – 170 fewer than those which ceased to trade in the same year. At last count there were 22,715 active companies in the area.
In Wiltshire 1,990 businesses were still active one year on from launch, a survival rate of 89 per cent which is the same as the UK rate.
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