GuernseyIsland Graph
Frozen editionQ3 2026cut 30 September 2026Live page →
Island Graph · Frozen edition

The Guernsey Business Census

How many businesses does Guernsey have? Nobody could answer that — the company register records legal entities, not who actually trades. This page counts the Bailiwick’s real economy: every business, charity and public body with a live trading presence, each verified against published evidence.

As of 30 September 2026⧉ Cite this pageMethodology16 sector chapters →
3,616

3,616 active businesses and organisations trading across the Bailiwick’s four inhabited islands today.

3,366Guernsey172Alderney67Sark11Herm
3,616Organisations counted
16Sectors
10Parishes
4Islands
68%Of the estimated total

Headline figures

#headlines ⧉

The figures you can quote

These 6 figures clear the citable bar — coverage high enough, count large enough, denominator named. Anything that doesn’t clear it appears further down as a chart, badged, or not at all.

Share of organisations with a primary sector whose main line is Home & Property1 in 6Counted over all 3,616 active organisations593 organisations — the largest of 16 sectors, ahead of Community & Public Services (543) and Health & Wellness (427).
Counted organisations with no website of their own1 in 3Counted over all 3,616 active organisations1,184 were verified from registers, press and sector bodies rather than from a site of their own.
Percentage-point gap in website ownership between the sectors most and least likely to have a site of their own45 ptsOf the 3,582 organisations with a primary sector (99% of 3,616)89% of Financial & Fiduciary organisations have a website of their own against 44% of Home & Property, across the 15 sectors where the rate is citable.
Share of everything counted that is based in St Peter Port38%Counted over all 3,616 active organisations1,358 organisations in a single parish — more than any other.
Register and directory rows reconciled to an organisation counted as trading5,193Reconciled against external registersOf 12,930 rows across 8 registers and directories; 5,096 remain unmatched and 2,641 were out of scope. An unmatched row is a job not yet done, not a business that does not trade.Reconciled against external registers
Essential services supplied by one or two organisations on record6A supplier is on record for 6 of 6 services on the published list (100%)electricity supply, water supply and wastewater, scheduled bus services, scheduled airline, cheese and dairy produce and acute hospital care — most of them by design: a States trading company, a contract let by the States, or a licence. Read from the record against a published list of 6 services.Reconciled against the States of Guernsey's list of trading companies and concerns, its bus provision and its hospital page, read on 29 September 2026

Coverage

#coverage ⧉

How complete is this count?

3,616 verified & publishedest. total 4,798–5,905

Coverage is stated as a range — 61–75% — because the denominator is itself an estimate. The bar takes the conservative end, so it never overstates what has been counted.

Sampling against independent listings puts the Bailiwick’s true trading population at an estimated 4,798–5,905. This census has verified the share shown alongside, and grows every week.

Estimate measured on 30 September 2026 by capture–recapture against Google's business listings for the Bailiwick, with every organisation that was itself added from those listings left out of the comparison so the two counts stay independent; it is re-measured at each edition, never assumed.

Every count on this page is therefore a floor, never a guess. Where a directory says “dozens of plumbers”, a census tells you the number, the denominator, and what it hasn’t counted yet.

Sectors

#sectors ⧉

16 sectors, from Home & Property to Agriculture & Marine

Home & Property and Community & Public Services lead: 32% of organisations with a primary sector sit in one of the two. Financial & Fiduciary — the sector Guernsey is known for — ranks 8th of 16 by number of organisations counted.

Primary sector#sectors-primary ⧉

Organisations by primary sector

Of the 3,582 organisations with a primary sector (99% of 3,616)

Home & Property593 17%Community & Public Services543 15%Health & Wellness427 12%Food & Drink306 9%Retail & Shopping304 8%Professional Services262 7%Leisure & Recreation223 6%Financial & Fiduciary194 5%Automotive & Transport182 5%Accommodation173 5%Media & Communications98 3%Travel & Transport72 2%Education & Childcare66 2%Events & Celebrations62 2%Manufacturing & Industry59 2%Agriculture & Marine18 1%

Sector counts are by each organisation's primary sector; 34 of the 3,616 await a primary classification. The contents list opens each sector's own chapter.

The most crowded niches

Sector league

#compared ⧉

One table, 16 sectors, the same question asked of each

Every figure below is the figure that sector’s own chapter prints, counted over that sector’s 99% share of the 3,616 organisations counted. A rank counts only the cells that clear the citable bar, so a sector too thin to compare is shown as a gap rather than given a place it has not earned.

▲ highest and ▼ lowest of the cells that clear the citable bar; ◐ indicative only; — not enough on record. The sector column stays put while the rest scrolls sideways.

▲ highest and ▼ lowest of the cells that clear the citable bar; ◐ a cell whose coverage is only indicative, which may sit in this table but carries no headline; — not enough on record to publish. The island row is counted over all 3,616 active organisations, including those with no primary sector, so it is a baseline rather than a seventeenth competitor.Verified from published evidence; businesses without a web presence are under-represented.Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph; a business with no capability claim is not necessarily a business that does none of these things.Counts organisations still trading that publish a founding year; older firms are likelier to do so — survivorship and reporting bias at once.Columns where a rank counts fewer than all 16 sectors: Size (15), Own website (15), Any social account (15), A .gg address (7), Capability coverage (13), Median capabilities (13), Median founding year (4), Opening hours on record (1), Most concentrated in (9).
SectorCountedOwn siteSocial.ggCapabilitiesMedian capsMedian yearHoursConcentrated inRecall
Home & Property1593▲17%44%▼25951%30138%◐98 of 25983%▲4913—33%◐196Vale 1.72115 organisations77%
Community254315%79%42950%27065%▲280 of 42967%3622——St Peter Port 1.01203 organisations84%
Health342712%66%28248%20342%119 of 28269%2954—51%◐218St Martin 1.4951 organisations73%
Food & Drink43069%62%19161%18651%98 of 19166%2016—60%184St Peter Port 1.29148 organisations86%
Retail53048%62%18850%15226%48 of 18866%2023—58%◐177St Sampson 1.5553 organisations82%
Professional62627%86%22546%12133%74 of 22577%20362006▲65% dated52%◐137St Peter Port 1.46150 organisations80%
Leisure72236%75%16853%11836%61 of 16859%◐1322◐200464% dated—St Peter Port 0.84▼66 organisations67%
Finance81945%89%▲17344%8618%▼32 of 17380%1568▲200270% dated57%◐111St Peter Port 2.09▲173 organisations84%
Automotive91825%58%10645%8238%◐40 of 10667%1223—49%◐89Vale 1.9442 organisations79%
Accommodation101735%64%11140%▼7021%◐23 of 11158%◐1002◐———79%
Media11983%82%8046%4521%◐17 of 8061%▼603—39%◐38—67%
Travel12722%83%6067%48—76%5541992▼61% dated35%◐25—87%
Education13662%70%4673%▲4843%◐20 of 4677%511▼—42%◐28—87%
Events14622%65%4065%4045%◐18 of 4074%463———89%▲
Manufacturing1559▼2%64%3856%3355%◐21 of 3878%463—46%◐27—79%
Agri & Marine1618◐1%————————67%◐▼
Island-wide3,58267%50%40%71%3200641%—68%
Reading the columns
  • Size: Home & Property highest (593), Manufacturing & Industry lowest (59); island-wide 3,582. Counted for 15 of 16 sectors.
  • Own website: Financial & Fiduciary highest (89%), Home & Property lowest (44%); island-wide 67%. Counted for 15 of 16 sectors.
  • Any social account: Education & Childcare highest (73%), Accommodation lowest (40%); island-wide 50%. Counted for 15 of 16 sectors.
  • A .gg address: Community & Public Services highest (65%), Financial & Fiduciary lowest (18%); island-wide 40%. Counted for 7 of 16 sectors.
  • Capability coverage: Home & Property highest (83%), Media & Communications lowest (61%); island-wide 71%. Counted for 13 of 16 sectors.
  • Median capabilities: Financial & Fiduciary highest (8), Education & Childcare lowest (1); island-wide 3. Counted for 15 of 16 sectors.
  • Median founding year: Professional Services highest (2006), Travel & Transport lowest (1992); island-wide 2006. Counted for 4 of 16 sectors.
  • Most concentrated in: Financial & Fiduciary highest (St Peter Port 2.09), Leisure & Recreation lowest (St Peter Port 0.84). Counted for 9 of 16 sectors.
  • Measured recall: Events & Celebrations highest (89%), Agriculture & Marine lowest (67%); island-wide 68%.

Working across sectors

#cross-sector ⧉

Most organisations do one thing. Plenty do two.

15% of the organisations with a sector on record work in more than one — a hotel that is also a restaurant, a farm shop that is also a café. The island averages 1.17 sectors per organisation.

Sector porosity#cross-sector-chord ⧉

Organisations working in two sectors at once

A sector on record for 3,582 of 3,616 organisations (99%)

Home & Prope…CommunityHealthFood & DrinkRetailProfessionalLeisureFinanceAutomotiveAccommodationMediaTravelEducationEventsManufacturingAgri & Marine636sector pairin…

Arc length is a sector's shared members, not its headcount — an organisation in one sector only is excluded, or every ribbon would be a thread. The middle counts PAIRINGS, not organisations: an organisation working in three sectors makes three of them, and 551 organisations work in two or more. An organisation in two sectors is counted in both, so these ribbons say “works in”, never “is in”.

The most bridged pairs

  • Community & Public Services × Leisure & Recreation61 organisations work in both
  • Community & Public Services × Health & Wellness44 organisations work in both
  • Accommodation × Events & Celebrations36 organisations work in both
  • Media & Communications × Professional Services29 organisations work in both
  • Home & Property × Retail & Shopping27 organisations work in both
  • Financial & Fiduciary × Professional Services24 organisations work in both
  • Health & Wellness × Leisure & Recreation24 organisations work in both
  • Home & Property × Professional Services24 organisations work in both

The 8 pairs carrying the most organisations, of 74 pairs with anyone in common. Counted in both sectors, so a pair says “works in”, never “is in”.

Parishes

#parishes ⧉

St Peter Port dominates; Torteval fields 27

St Peter Port holds 1,358 organisations on record — more than the next three parishes combined. At the other end, the whole parish of Torteval runs on 27 organisations counted so far.

By parish#parishes-map ⧉

Organisations by parish

A parish on record for 3,167 of 3,616 organisations (88%)

Organisations01,358
St Peter P…1,358St Sampson416Vale414Castel265St Saviour101St Pierre du Bois94Torteval27Forest106St Martin278St Andrew108

Tap a parish for its full name and count — at this size some shapes are too small to carry a label. Every parish is in the table.

Guernsey parishes only; Alderney, Sark and Herm are counted in the island split above. 449 organisations don't yet have a parish on record — the map fills in as verification proceeds.

The island's mix#parish-sector-grid ⧉

Parishes against sectors

A parish and a primary sector on record for 3,137 of 3,616 organisations (87%)

Colour by
Organisations0203
Home & Prope…CommunityHealthFood & DrinkRetailProfessionalLeisureFinanceAutomotiveAccommodationMediaTravelEducationEventsManufacturingAgri & MarineSt Peter PortSt SampsonValeCastelSt MartinForestSt AndrewSt SaviourSt Pierre du…Torteval

Switch to “share vs island” for the location quotient: a parish's own mix against the island's. Grey means “the same as everywhere else”, which is the commonest reading and should look like nothing.

Density#parishes-per-capita ⧉

Organisations per 1,000 residents

A parish on record for 3,167 of 3,616 organisations (88%)

St Peter Port69Forest65.3St Pierre du Bois47St Andrew46.4St Sampson45.6Vale42.9St Martin41.8St Saviour35.7Castel30.4Torteval26.3

Resident counts: States of Guernsey, Guernsey Annual Electronic Census Report 2023, Table 6.1.1 (population at 31 March 2023). A parish where people work but few live reads high; this is a density of organisations, not of employment.

Source: https://www.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=174892&p=0

Founding years

#age ⧉

A millennium of founding dates, and a very young economy

The register spans nearly a millennium of founding dates, and a founding year is published far more readily by older firms than by new ones. The oldest business on record dates to 1712; the oldest institution to 1030.

Founding era#age-eras ⧉

Organisations by founding era

A founding year on record for 1,748 of 3,616 organisations (48%)

On record for 48% — indicative
0200400600pre-18001950–792000–094742020s

The register spans from an institution founded in 1030 to 277 organisations founded in the 2020s. Half of those with a founding year on record were founded after 2006. Counts organisations still trading that publish a founding year; older firms are likelier to do so.

“On-island since” is the year a business began trading here — a branch of an older mainland firm counts from its Guernsey arrival, not its parent's founding.

By sector#age-by-sector ⧉

Founding eras, sector by sector

A founding year on record for 1,739 of 3,616 organisations (48%)

On record for 48% — indicative
Community & Public Services
321 of 543
050100pre-18002020s
Home & Property
229 of 593
pre-18002020s
Professional Services
171 of 262
050100pre-18002020s
Health & Wellness
168 of 427
pre-18002020s
Leisure & Recreation
142 of 223
050100pre-18002020s
Retail & Shopping
138 of 304
pre-18002020s
Financial & Fiduciary
136 of 194
050100pre-18002020s
Food & Drink
125 of 306
pre-18002020s
Automotive & Transport
84 of 182
050100pre-18002020s
Media & Communications
52 of 98
pre-18002020s
Travel & Transport
44 of 72
050100pre-18002020s
Manufacturing & Industry
35 of 59
pre-18002020s
Education & Childcare
25 of 66
050100pre-18002020s
Events & Celebrations
23 of 62
pre-18002020s

All panels share one vertical scale (organisations, 0–80), so panel heights are comparable.

Only sectors whose founding-year coverage clears the indicative floor are drawn: 14 of 16. Each panel's own base is in its title. Same survivorship and reporting bias as above.

Capabilities

#capabilities ⧉

2,562 organisations have what they do resolved to the graph

A sector is a label; a capability is a service someone published and we resolved to the graph. The typical organisation on record holds 3 of them. They fall into 15 domains.

Domain → group#capability-rings ⧉

The capability graph, from the outside in

A capability on record for 2,562 of 3,616 organisations (71%)

Zoom
Professional se…Built e…Health &…Food &…Leisur…Retai…All domains5,411org–group links

Capabilities as published by each organisation and resolved to the graph. The figure in the middle counts organisation-to-group links: an organisation working across two groups is counted in each, so the rings add up to more than the number of organisations.

One row per domain#capability-leaders ⧉

The leading capability in each domain

A capability on record for 2,562 of 3,616 organisations (71%)

Food & drink: Bar & lounge119 5%Built environment: General buil…114 4%Professional services: Family o…74 3%Retail & shopping: Gifts & gift…65 3%Grounds & cleaning: Garden main…48 2%Accommodation: Self-catering st…47 2%Events & celebrations: Wedding…41 2%Financial services: Investment…39 2%Health & wellness: Family suppo…38 1%Leisure & recreation: Heritage…35 1%Automotive & transport: Vehicle…35 1%Manufacturing & industry: Waste…30 1%Marine & agriculture: Boat repa…16 1%Travel & transport: History & h…16 1%Media & communications: Commerc…12 0%

The busiest node in each domain, rather than the busiest nodes island-wide — which are generic amenities and tell you nothing about what the island does. Every row links to its roll call.

How central is it?#capability-roles ⧉

Is this what they do, or one of many things they do?

A positioning note on record for 2,303 of 3,616 organisations (64%)

This is what they do1,538 67%Core to the business1,416 61%One of many services900 39%A sideline272 12%

The roles overlap: one business can be “this is what they do” for one capability and “a sideline” for another, so these rows add up past the number of businesses.

Organisations per capability#capability-tail ⧉

How many hands hold each thing the island can do

At least one organisation is on record for 1,008 of 1,036 capabilities (97%)

010020030012716–1021+

129 of the 1,008 capabilities with anyone on record are carried by two organisations or fewer, and 359 by five or fewer. Ranked by how many carry them, 171 capabilities account for half of all 12,069 organisation-to-capability links. A thin capability is a floor twice over: one organisation on record may have company that has not published, and 28 capabilities have nobody on record at all.

Not on the capability graph yet

  • Community publicCivic & government services 6 capabilities
  • Community publicCrisis & specialist welfare services 5 capabilities
  • Community publicUtility commodity supply 3 capabilities
  • AccommodationCorporate, relocation & long-term stays 2 capabilities
  • Retail & shoppingLeisure & garden retail 1 capability
  • Retail & shoppingRetail operating models 1 capability

Every capability in these groups has nobody on record. That is a gap in the graph, not an absence on the island: the organisations that do these things are counted in this census, with their public-service work not yet resolved to a capability.

Rare skills by sector

6% of the organisations with a capability on record hold one that two or fewer organisations carry

Counted as organisations, not capabilities, over each sector’s organisations with anything on the graph at all. A rare skill on record is a floor: the second carrier may simply not have published.

Organisations carrying a rare capability, by sector, as a share of the sector’s organisations with any capability on record.
SectorMappedHold a rare skillShare
Island-wide2,562155
6%
Health29531
11%
Finance15615
10%◐
Professional20315
7%◐
Home & Property49117
3%◐

Not compared: Community, Food & Drink, Retail, Leisure, Automotive, Accommodation, Media, Travel, Education, Events, Manufacturing, Agri & Marine — each sector's count of organisations holding a rare skill is under the floor for a share (15 to draw, 30 to headline), or too little of the sector is on the graph at all.

Single suppliers

#essentials ⧉

6 essential services on record are supplied by one or two organisations

Most of them by design — a States trading company, a contract let by the States, a licence — and the design is the fact worth stating. The census records who they are, not whether that is wise. The list of services is fixed and published; who supplies each is read from the record.

Essential services on Guernsey, the organisations on record supplying each, and why each has so few suppliers.
ServiceSupplied byOn recordWhy so few
Electricity supplyGuernsey Electricity Ltd1States-ownedThe island's electricity utility is a States of Guernsey trading company.
Water supply and wastewaterGuernsey Water · States Works2States-ownedWater and wastewater are States of Guernsey trading services.
Scheduled bus servicesBuses.gg1States contractThe island's bus network is run under a contract let by the States of Guernsey.
Scheduled airlineAurigny Air Services1States-ownedThe island's own airline is owned by the States of Guernsey; a second carrier flies under its own licence.
Cheese and dairy produceGuernsey Dairy · Royal Golden Guernsey Goats Cheese2States-ownedThe island's dairy is a States of Guernsey trading service; a second producer works alongside it.
Acute hospital careCommittee for Health & Social Care · Princess Elizabeth Hospital2States-ownedThe island's acute hospital is run by the States of Guernsey.

Not on the capability graph yet: Civil protection & emergency planning, Court & judicial administration, Domestic & commercial gas supply, Emergency response & ambulance services, Heating-oil & solid-fuel supply, Parish & environmental maintenance services, Policing & custodial services, Renewable-energy supply & advisory and States & government administration. A capability with nobody on record is a gap in the graph, not an absence on the island — the organisations that do these things are counted elsewhere in this census, with their public-service work not yet resolved to a capability.

Reading this table

The list of services is fixed and published on the methodology page; who supplies each is read from the record every hour, through the capability the organisation publishes or the niche it is filed under. A row is never dropped for having too many suppliers: if a third internet provider appears, the row says three. “On record” means the organisations we have found publishing the service on Guernsey — a business we cannot see on the web is also a business we cannot count. The heading counts the services with 2 suppliers or fewer.

Opening hours

#hours ⧉

The island’s working week, hour by hour

Only the organisations that publish a weekly grid are in this chart; a business that publishes nothing is not counted as closed, and seasonal or per-site prose is left unparsed rather than half-parsed.

Seven days, twenty-four hours#hours-clock ⧉

Organisations open, by day and hour

Opening hours on record for 1,491 of 3,616 organisations (41%)

On record for 41% — indicative
Organisations open01,365
00061218MonTueWedThuFriSatSunmidnight ↑

1 in 4 of the organisations that publish a weekly grid open on a Sunday. The median week runs 45 hours. Published opening hours only; a business that does not publish hours is not counted as closed. 2,080 organisations hold hours of some shape, of which 1,491 resolve to a weekly grid and 589 are seasonal or per-site prose that must not be half-parsed.

Legal form

#form ⧉

Legal form, as far as it is published

Legal form is published far less often than a phone number, so this is the section where the honest answer is mostly “we don’t know yet”. It stays on the page with its coverage stated, because a blank with a denominator is worth more than a confident number over a silent base.

Legal form#legal-form ⧉

Organisations by legal form

A legal form on record for 1,677 of 3,616 organisations (46%)

On record for 46% — indicative
Limited company1,008 60%Charity223 13%Sole trader206 12%States entity132 8%Limited by guarantee45 3%Other26 2%Partnership24 1%LLP13 1%

60% of those that publish a legal form are limited company — a limited company states its status in a footer and a sole trader rarely does, so this is a picture of who publishes. A further 216 organisations hold something in the legal-form slot that is not a legal form — filing notes, cancellation policies, a bare year. Those leave the denominator rather than inflating “other”.

Online presence

#digital ⧉

1 in 3 of the organisations counted has no website

They were still found, and still verified — from registers, the press, sector bodies and social pages. A census that counted only the websited would not have them at all.

Organisations with a website of their own2,432Counted over all 3,616 active organisationsA site of their own on record — not a directory listing or a social page.
Of those websites, the share on a .gg domain40%A website on record for 2,432 of 3,616 organisations (67%)The island's own top-level domain, against .com and .co.uk.
Organisations linking to Facebook1,691A social link on record for 1,822 of 3,616 organisations (50%)On record for 50% — indicative
Organisations linking to Instagram823A social link on record for 1,822 of 3,616 organisations (50%)On record for 50% — indicative
Where they post#digital-social ⧉

Organisations by social platform

A social link on record for 1,822 of 3,616 organisations (50%)

On record for 50% — indicative
Facebook1,691 93%Instagram823 45%X / Twitter348 19%LinkedIn266 15%Other platform26 1%YouTube13 1%TikTok3 0%

An organisation on two platforms is counted on both, so these rows add up to more than the number with any social presence. Verified from published evidence; businesses without a web presence are under-represented.

Registers and directories

#registers ⧉

5,193 of 12,930 register and directory rows are bound to a trading organisation

Public registers and directories are where discovery starts, not where it ends. Each bar below is one source, cut into the three states its rows are in: bound to an organisation we count as trading, still an unmatched candidate, or rejected as out of scope.

Per source#registers-matched ⧉

Register rows, and what became of them

Reconciled against external registers

Reconciled against external registers
MatchedUnmatched candidateRejected as out of scope
Association of Guernsey Charities87%VisitGuernsey68%Food.gg59%Google Business Profile55%Yabsta directory49%OpenStreetMap44%Guernsey charity register42%Guernsey Financial Services Commiss…8%

Every bar is one row's own rows, so the bars compare the split rather than the size. On the right, matched as a share of that row's rows.

Register rows not yet matched to a trading presence are counted as unmatched, not as non-trading. Rows are rows, not organisations: the 5,193 matched rows sit behind fewer than 5,193 organisations, because two directories can list the same business.

Alderney, Sark, Herm

#islands ⧉

The Bailiwick is four islands, not one

250 organisations counted trade somewhere other than Guernsey. They are small enough that a roll call is the honest form — and small enough that a chart of them would flatter the numbers.

Alderney
172
organisations counted
Community & Public Services39
Health & Wellness24
Retail & Shopping24
Leisure & Recreation20
Accommodation18
Sark
67
organisations counted
Accommodation19
Food & Drink12
Community & Public Services10
Retail & Shopping8
Leisure & Recreation4
Herm
11
organisations counted
Food & Drink5
Accommodation3
Community & Public Services1
Leisure & Recreation1
Retail & Shopping1

Names

#names ⧉

The Norman-French is still in the phone book

Guernsey’s place names are Norman-French and so, still, are a good number of its businesses. This counts names opening with an article — Le, La, Les, Des, Du, L’ — which under-counts the Norman surnames that carry no article at all.

Names carrying a French or Norman article5%Counted over all 3,616 active organisations164 organisations, counted over every canonical name on record.

Newly verified

#pulse ⧉

Newly verified in the last 30 days

This is discovery, not formation: a business added here was found and verified this month, not founded this month. What an opening or a closure rate would take is set out under Method.

+380
organisations added to the register (discovery, not openings)
+12,948
new facts verified
19,142
source observations processed
159
recorded as no longer trading, to date

Use these numbers

#use ⧉

Free to reuse, with attribution

Journalists, researchers and officials are welcome to these figures. Every section has a stable anchor, and every count traces to published evidence. License: CC BY 4.0 — credit “Island Graph” with a link.

census.csvsector × parishcensus.jsonevery aggregateAbout the dataFull methodology2026-q3.pdfthe whole report
Island Graph, The Guernsey Business Census — Q3 2026 edition, island.gg/census/2026-q3.

The two files above are always the live census; the figures on this page are frozen. The live census →

Writing about this? Press desk — the citable lines, the files and a standing data-desk offer. Enquiries → press@island.gg. Machine readers: this page carries schema.org Dataset markup with both distributions.

Method

#method ⧉

What counts, how it is verified, and what this page cannot tell you

What counts

Anything with a live trading or public presence in the Bailiwick: businesses, charities, clubs, churches, public bodies. Presence, not paperwork — a company registration alone doesn’t qualify; a market stall with customers does.

How it’s verified

Every organisation is built from published evidence — its own site, regulators, sector bodies, local press — with each fact linked to its source and re-checked over time. 172,363 standing facts today.

What we get wrong

Coverage is partial and stated openly; closures can lag reality by weeks. Spot an error or a missing business? Tell us — corrections ship continuously, and every change to the method or the data that moves a published figure is dated on the revisions log.

What this page cannot tell you

Four figures a reader may be looking for, and why none of them can be computed from this snapshot rather than merely being missing from it.

  • Openings per year — not computable

    Every organisation counted is active by construction, and a founding year is not an opening date — it is what a surviving business chose to publish about itself.

  • Closures per year — not computable

    No record carries a cessation date or a status history. A business found to have stopped trading is marked as such, without the date it stopped.

  • Net formation — not computable

    It is the difference between two figures, neither of which this snapshot holds. A count of what was added to the register is discovery, not formation.

  • Survival rate — not computable

    Record-creation dates span months rather than years, so no cohort can be followed from one period to the next.

There are two routes to a real series and neither is in this snapshot: the Guernsey Registry’s strike-off and dissolution notices, and successive frozen editions of this census compared against each other. The second starts the first time an edition is cut.

Full methodology — populations, tiers, biases and how recall is measured →