Standing view · business · City of Edinburgh
improving, held with established confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2026-06.
Business births in Edinburgh fell to 540 in the second quarter of 2025 and 510 in the fourth quarter of 2025. Closures fell to 510 in the second quarter of 2025. Formations and closures were level in the most recent quarter where both can be compared, and formations have fallen in both readings published, so the direction of the business base is not clearly favourable. The city held 23,420 business sites in 2025, including 2,455 businesses employing between five and nine people, 260 employing 50 to 99, 65 employing 250 to 499 and 25 employing 500 to 999.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about City of Edinburgh. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Business births | 2025-06 | deteriorating |
| Business deaths | 2025-06 | improving |
| Business births | 2025-12 | deteriorating |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses employing 250 to 499 people | 2025 | — |
| Businesses employing 5 to 9 people | 2025 | — |
| Businesses employing 50 to 99 people | 2025 | — |
| Businesses employing 500 to 999 people | 2025 | — |
| Business sites | 2025 | — |