Of the 478,070 UK businesses started up between 2007 and 2017, those in the health, scientific and technical sectors enjoyed the most success, according to a report by The UK Domain.

The report’s authors studied 18 core industries analysing the likelihood of survival of its micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

The industry with the highest number of successful micro businesses (one to nine employees) was also in the professional, scientific and technical sphere with a total of 451,740 having started up in the past decade, and 117,110 standing the test of time by surviving for 10 years or more.

In 2017, the health sector accounted for the largest number of companies, with 17.9% of all registered businesses in the UK.

The professional, scientific and technical sector also had the largest growth in numbers between 2016 and 2017, an increase of 20,000 businesses.