In the UK, the Public Relations industry is a significant employer. We estimate there about 4,200 PR agencies in the PR and a large number of PR practitioners employed in-house by companies. According to the 2006 IPA census, there were 17,367 people employed in 258 IPA member agencies, with the average agency employing 67.3 individuals. Generally only larger agencies are members of the IPA and they only represent 258 agencies which is a small sample of the approximate 4,200 agencies in the UK. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) estimated that there are now 48,000 people working in PR roles in the UK.

Definitions

Wikipedia

PR is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc

CIPR

Public relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.

Dictionary

The art or science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public.

World Assembly of Public Relations Associations

The art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest.