Since the onset of the full-scale war in Ukraine, over 763,000 individual entrepreneurs (FOPs) have been registered, while 685,000 entrepreneurs have ceased their activities. The majority of new businesses were established in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv regions.
This information comes from Opendatabot.
A record low was recorded in January 2025: after nearly a month-long break in the operation of registries, 61,455 FOPs were closed within a few weeks of January. In comparison, only 21,300 entrepreneurs opened their own businesses.
Most often, entrepreneurs who started during the full-scale war chose retail trade as their primary area of activity—28.1%. The top three also included IT—9.1% and wholesale trade—7.2%.
Compared to the period before the major war, the number of new businesses in postal and courier services has tripled, the number of FOPs related to education has increased by 2.6 times, and the financial sector has seen a 2.5 times rise.
At the same time, there has been a decline in the establishment of businesses in the IT sector and in the trade of motor/auto transport.
The war and mobilization have affected the gender distribution of entrepreneurs: currently, 61% of FOPs are women. The highest percentage of women entrepreneurs among new FOPs is found in Khmelnytskyi (60.5%), Kirovohrad (60.1%), and Poltava regions (59.4%).
Women are more likely to start businesses in services, education, and clothing production, while men dominate in construction, transport, and logistics.
The highest number of new FOPs during the full-scale war was registered in Kyiv—108,500, followed by Dnipropetrovsk (68,400) and Lviv regions (60,000). In regions closer to combat zones, there are significantly fewer new businesses.
At the same time, the number of new entrepreneurs has increased in Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Chernihiv regions.
Over nearly three years, FOPs have paid a total of 126 billion hryvnias in taxes.
It’s worth noting that, according to YouControl, Ukrainians closed nearly 210,000 individual entrepreneurs in 2024—this is the highest figure in the last five years.
Since January of this year, taxes for individual entrepreneurs have increased.