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The scale of family company activity in the United Kingdom was measured with regard to several family firm definitions. This study confirms that family companies are a numerically important group of businesses. Policy makers and practitioners must, however, be aware that the scale of family firm activity in any developed economy is highly sensitive to the family firm definition selected. Within a bivariate as well as multivariate statistical framework, marked demographic differences were identified between family and non-family companies with regard to several family firm definitions. We suggest that bivariate studies comparing the management practices and performance of family and non-family firms may have identified ‘demographic sample’ differences rather than ‘real’ differences. Implications for future research exploring the management and performance of family and non-family firms are discussed.