Half of all UK small businesses fail within the first three years, 80% fail within the first five years.
That’s a statistic I’ve heard fairly often. Which would be fine, if it were true. Only it isn’t.
8% of businesses fail to survive more than one year, 28% cease trading within three years and about 40% fail to survive more than four years. *
Mark Pinsent recently noted anti-alcohol lobby groups increased statistics about French drinking habits to suit their cause. It became accepted knowledge. So I wonder who was trying to sell small business consultancy/services to double this statistic?
Now if journalists checked their facts, they would have discovered this mistake and this rumour wouldn’t have spread (Cue: Churnalism).
Anyone else curious about drug-related deaths, online piracy levels or the threat of terrorism?
* Statistics i’ve discovered doing my dissertation.