SCOTLAND'S business population fell by one per cent last year, according to the Office of National Statistics.

After rising from 285,000 at the start of 2010 to 326,000 at the start of 2013, the population fell back to 322,600 in January 2014. The four-year rise of 13 per cent compares with rises of 17 per cent for England, 30 per cent for London, 22 per cent for the North-East, 12 per cent for Wales, and a fall of 0.5 per cent in Northern Ireland. Scotland had 730 businesses of all sizes per 1000 adults, the lowest apart from the North-East.