New study shows Westmeath worst country for SMEs

Westmeath is the worst county in Ireland for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a new study has found.

Just 15.84% of all businesses in Roscommon were SMEs, which are businesses with less than 50 employees.

This figure was 4.7% higher than 2019, when the previous Central Statistics Office (CSO) data was recorded.

Roscommon ranked mid-table at 14th, with 69% of all businesses in the country classified as SMEs.

The experts from Baldwin Digital analysed the latest data from the CSO on enterprises with under 50 employees in the 26 counties.

Each county was ranked based on the number of SMEs per 10,000 people, the percentage of SMEs in relation to all businesses, and the percentage difference in SMEs from 2019 to 2021.

The counties were given an overall score out of 100 based on these metrics and ranked from best to worst.

Mark Baldwin, director and founder of Baldwin Digital commented on the study, “Approximately 44.32% of businesses across Ireland have less than 50 staff members, with every county except Dublin and Westmeath having a higher percentage than the national average.”

Wicklow comes out on top as Ireland’s best county for solo enterprises, scoring 63.88. Approximately 72.4% of the county’s businesses are SMEs, the second-highest figure nationwide behind Laois (73.56%). Wicklow's rate also rose by 1.5% since 2019.

The county also ranks 11th for start-ups per 10,000 residents, with 2,026.

According to Chartered Accountant Ireland, SMEs are “critical” to the success of the Irish economy.

“SMEs make up the vast majority of all businesses in Ireland, and collectively they employ close to seven out of 10 people working in the business economy.”