Small business entrepreneurs in the UK are working more than half a billion man-hours worth £1,046 billion to the UK economy every year.

Newly dubbed the UK’s ‘EDP’ measure – or Entrepreneurial Domestic Product – this represents every small business owner in the UK clocking up nearly 2,500 hours of blood, sweat and tears every year. On average, this equates annually to nearly 700 hours more than an employee working a standard 37.5 hour week.

The EDP measure, launched by Hiscox benchmarks that more than a third of small business owners put in over 50 hours a week (37%), with 14% actually clocking up more than 60 hours every week.

The significant value of the UK’s EDP – where these long hours contribute a staggering 37% of UK businesses overall turnover each year - demonstrates the scale of the financial and lifestyle risk that every entrepreneur shoulders. Despite these risks, running a business remains an attractive prospect, with nearly six in ten (58%) of UK small business entrepreneurs citing the desire to be their own boss as a motivating factor. This independent streak is a likely contributing factor behind the rise in the number of home-grown entrepreneurs over the last four years: 212,000 small businesses started up last year alone – an increase of 60% on the previous year’s figures.