In Ukraine, there is a significant increase in new individual entrepreneurs (FPOs). In the first eight months of 2024, almost 194,000 new FOPs were registered, which exceeds the number of new registrations for the same period before the start of a full-scale war. At the same time, over 120,000 FOPs have closed, and more than thirty percent of new businesses cease their activities in the first year of operation, according to data from the Unified State Register (USR) provided to Opendatabot.
As of September 1, Ukraine set a new record for the number of new FOPs. 193,192 new entrepreneurs were registered, which is a significant increase compared to 186,144 new FOPs before the start of the war. After a significant decline at the beginning of the great invasion, the dynamics of new registrations has stabilized and remains at the level of the last two years.
The record share of women among newly minted businessmen, which reached 60%, is particularly impressive. This compares to 55.6% in 2023 and 47% in the first year of full-scale war.
The largest number of new FOPs opened in the capital, where 26,303 new businesses were registered, which is 13.6% of the total number. Other regions with high activity include Dnipropetrovsk region (18,025 new FOPs), Lviv region (14,459), Kyiv region (14,428) and Kharkiv region (12,954).
It is worth noting the increase in the number of new FOPs in Zaporizhia Oblast by 11%, Kirovohrad Oblast by 10%, and Chernihiv Oblast by 9.6%. At the same time, a decrease in business activity is observed in the front-line Luhansk (-14.7%) and Ivano-Frankivsk (-8%) regions. Despite the high indicators in the Kharkiv region, the number of registrations in this region decreased by 6% compared to the previous year.
A third of new FOPs are opened in the field of trade, the IT sector attracts 7.6% of new entrepreneurs, and the provision of individual services occupies 7%. In 2023, cafes and restaurants were among the leaders, but this year they were supplanted by information services.
The number of new FOPs currently exceeds the number of closed ones by 1.6 times. Since the beginning of the year, 120,154 private enterprises have closed down, with newly created businesses the most affected. 24.5% of new FOPs opened last year closed, and 13.7% of those opened this year. The median term of activity of closed FOPs is 2 years and 7 months.
The largest number of FOPs closed in Kyiv - 13% (15,770), Kharkiv region - 8% (10,097) and Dnipropetrovsk region - 8% (9,931).
