A report released today (7 June) by Co-operatives UK shows that the co-operative sector is now owned by a record number of people - 17.5 million members, equivalent to a third of the entire UK adult population.

The upsurge in members - an increase of 2.3 million people or 14.3% over the last five years - stems from the rise in the number of people joining high street retailers and credit unions and the rise in the number of new community-owned organisations across the country.

The annual state of the sector report, The UK co-operative economy 2016, also finds that the co-operative sector has 6,797 independent co-operative businesses, working in everything from farming to film.

Despite a slight dip on the previous year, the sector as a whole turned over £34 billion last year, with the co-operative sector proving extremely resilient over the last five years, amidst uncertain wider economic conditions.

The recent announcement from the Co-op, the UK's largest consumer co-operative, is set to stimulate the sector further in the coming years.  Last week the Co-op announced plans to return £100 million to its members and their communities a year by 2018, as well as recruiting a further 1 million members into the sector.  More widely, the rest of the sector has seen sustained prosperity accounting for a £3.5 billion or 10% increase in turnover during the last five years.

It is hoped that the recent re-launch at the Co-op will spur more investment into co-operatively owned businesses in the supply chain, as well as encouraging further expansion of the co-operative model into other sectors and service areas.

The two strongest parts of the co-operative sector are retail and agriculture. Co-operative retailers, including the two largest co-ops, the Co-op and John Lewis, account for £24.3 billion of the sector's turnover, and the UK's 600 farmer owned co-ops, such as Arla Foods and United Oilseeds, £5.8 billion.

The report also provides employment figures for the co-operative sector for the first time, showing that the sector now supports 223,000 UK jobs across the UK.

Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, said:

"As the UK economy picks up, we need to ensure what develops is an economy that works for everyone. The co-operative sector, which is giving people a say over their work, shops and local areas is looking strong for the future and points the way."

"The last five years have been tough for the economy as a whole, yet we have seen strong performance from the co-operative sector. Despite deeply competitive markets the sector as a whole has remained stable and co-operatives trading in retail and agriculture have grown by 10% over the last five years.

"Alongside this solid commercial performance, there has been a surge in the number of people who own and control the UK's co-operatives. With 17.5 million members owning everything from high street retailers to credit unions, the co-operative sector is the largest open membership organisation in the UK."