In Ukraine, 30,033 re-registrations of sole proprietorships were recorded from January through September 2026, accounting for about 14% of all new registrations. Thus, one in seven entrepreneurs who registered an individual entrepreneur this year had previously run their own business, according to data from the Unified State Register published by the “OpenDataBot” service on November 2.
According to the study, in the first nine months of 2026, 29,382 individuals who had previously closed their sole proprietorships returned to entrepreneurial activity. At the same time, the number of re-registrations for the current year (which is not yet complete) has already exceeded the total for all of 2025.
The share of re-registrations of sole proprietorships in Ukraine has been growing for the third consecutive year. While it accounted for about 5% of all registrations in 2023, reached 7% in 2024, and increased to 10% in 2025, the figure reached 14% in the first nine months of 2026.
The highest number of re-registrations was recorded in Kyiv—3,862, or nearly 13% of the national total. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ranked second with 2,861 registrations, and Odesa Oblast ranked third with 2,226. The top five also included Lviv Oblast with 2,115 repeat registrations and Kyiv Oblast with 2,032.
According to Danylo Getmantsev, chairman of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax, and customs policy, the increase in the number of re-registrations is due to several factors, including the simplification of administrative procedures, the financial burden on entrepreneurs, and opportunities for tax optimization.
Specifically, starting in June 2023, entrepreneurs were able to automatically terminate their business activities through the “Diya” portal, and as of November of that same year, the registration of sole proprietorships and the selection of a taxation system were combined into a single application.
An additional factor has been the rise in the cost of maintaining sole proprietorships even in the absence of income. According to Getmantsev, starting in January 2025, the corresponding financial burden for certain categories of entrepreneurs may exceed 30,000 UAH per year due to payments of the unified social contribution and the military levy. This will prompt some entrepreneurs to temporarily suspend their activities and resume them once new orders come in or their business stabilizes.
At the same time, re-registration can be used to change the place of business and switch to different local tax rates.
Getmantsev noted that he does not see a systemic problem with re-registering a sole proprietorship, provided that tax laws are followed. However, he did not rule out the use of such procedures in certain schemes to fragment businesses or conceal employment relationships, though he assessed the proportion of such cases as insignificant.
The study also identified entrepreneurs who repeatedly terminated and resumed their business activities. The record belongs to a 25-year-old entrepreneur from the Dnipropetrovsk region, who has eight re-registrations carried out in 2021, 2022, and 2024. His business is related to real estate and advertising.
Four other entrepreneurs from the Kharkiv, Volyn, Rivne, and Khmelnytskyi regions each have seven re-registrations. They worked in the fields of trade, programming, design, computer repair, and healthcare.
“OpenDataBot” clarified that a repeat registration is defined as any new sole proprietorship established by an individual who previously held entrepreneur status. The first registration is not included in the statistics, and a single individual may carry out multiple repeat registrations over the course of different years.
“OpenDataBot” is a Ukrainian service for monitoring open government data that analyzes information from government registries, particularly regarding entrepreneurs, companies, court decisions, and business financial activities.
business registration, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SMALL BUSINESS, Sole proprietorship, UKRAINE, Опендатабот
In Ukraine, 222,300 new sole proprietorships were registered from January through September 2026, while 155,600 sole proprietorships ceased operations. Thus, the number of new registrations exceeded the number of closures by 66,600, according to data from the Unified State Register analyzed by Opendatabot.
The number of new sole proprietors remained virtually unchanged compared to the same period in 2025, while the number of closures dropped by 27% at once.
In total, since the beginning of the year, 222,288 new sole proprietors have been registered in Ukraine, while 155,645 have ceased operations. The net increase amounted to 66,643 entrepreneurs.
However, the trend throughout the year was uneven. More new sole proprietorships were registered in January, March, April, and May than in the corresponding months of the previous year. In February, June, July, August, and September, the number of registrations was lower than last year’s.
Despite this, September set a record for 2026 in terms of the number of new businesses—approximately 27,400 new sole proprietorships were registered.
Opendatabot notes that any comparison with the beginning of 2025 must take a technical factor into account. The sharp increase in the number of business closures in January of last year was due to the suspension of state registries in December 2024, when entrepreneurs were effectively unable to register the opening or closure of a business.
The largest number of new sole proprietorships over the nine-month period was registered in Kyiv—27,300. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ranked second with 22,300, followed by Lviv Oblast with 17,200, Odesa Oblast with 16,700, and Kyiv Oblast with 16,500.
Retail trade remains the leading business sector. It was chosen by 60,300 new entrepreneurs, accounting for more than a quarter of all sole proprietorships registered since the beginning of the year.
Computer programming attracted 16,700 new entrepreneurs, while wholesale trade drew 16,600. Another 10,700 registrations each were recorded in education and food and beverage services.
At the same time, retail trade also leads in the number of business closures—over the course of nine months, 49,400 sole proprietorships in this sector shut down. In computer programming, 17,100 entrepreneurs ceased operations; in wholesale trade, 11,700; and in the food service sector, 7,900.
In 22 regions of Ukraine, the number of sole proprietorships opened exceeded the number that closed. A negative balance was recorded in only three frontline regions—the Donetsk, Kherson, and Luhansk regions.
Source: Opendatabot’s “FOPonomics” study for the first nine months of 2026.
Retail remains the most popular sector for starting a small business in Ukraine—in the first nine months of 2026, 60,300 new sole proprietorships were registered in this sector, according to Opendatabot data based on the Unified State Register and an analysis by the Experts Club think tank.
Retail accounts for more than a quarter of all new sole proprietorships registered in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. In total, 222,300 sole proprietorships were established from January through September.
Computer programming was the second most popular sector, with 16,700 new sole proprietorships. Wholesale trade showed virtually the same result—16,600
Approximately 10,700 new entrepreneurs were registered in the education sector. The same number of sole proprietorships began operations in the food and beverage sector, which includes, in particular, various formats of food service.
However, the most popular business sectors also lead in the number of closures.
In retail trade, 49,400 sole proprietorships ceased operations over the nine-month period. Thus, despite the large number of closures, the net increase in the number of entrepreneurs in the sector amounted to approximately 10,900.
The situation was different in computer programming. With 16,700 new registrations, 17,100 sole proprietorships ceased operations. Thus, based on the absolute figures published by Opendatabot, the number of closures in the IT segment exceeded the number of new openings by approximately 400.
In wholesale trade, the situation remains positive: with 16,600 new sole proprietorships, 11,700 closed, resulting in a net increase of approximately 4,900 entrepreneurs.
In the food service sector, approximately 10,700 new sole proprietorships were registered, with 7,900 closures—a positive difference of about 2,800.
In total, over the first nine months of 2026, 222,288 sole proprietorships opened in Ukraine, while 155,645 closed. The number of new entrepreneurs exceeded the number of those who ceased operations by 66,643.
Source: Opendatabot — “This year, 66,000 more sole proprietorships were opened than closed”.
entrepreneur, EXPERTS CLUB, IT, Sole proprietorship, TRADE, UKRAINE
Kyiv led all regions of Ukraine in net growth of sole proprietorships (FOPs) from January through September 2026—the number of businesses opened exceeded the number of businesses closed by 7,751, according to data from the Unified State Register analyzed by Opendatabot and the Experts Club analytical center.
Over the course of nine months, approximately 27,300 new sole proprietorships were registered in the capital, the highest figure in the country. At the same time, approximately 19,500 entrepreneurs in the capital ceased operations.
The Dnipropetrovsk region ranked second in terms of net growth, with an increase of 7,333 sole proprietorships. Next came the Lviv region with an increase of 6,963 entrepreneurs, the Kyiv region with 6,510, and the Odesa region with 5,143.
Overall, positive trends were recorded in 22 regions of Ukraine.
A decline in the number of entrepreneurs occurred in only three regions near the front lines. It was most significant in the Donetsk region, where the number of closures exceeded the number of new registrations by 1,120 sole proprietorships. In the Kherson region, the net decrease was 397 entrepreneurs, and in the Luhansk region, 203.
At the same time, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ranks second not only in terms of net growth but also in the absolute number of new registrations—22,300 sole proprietorships were established there over the nine-month period.
In Lviv Oblast, 17,200 new entrepreneurs were registered; in Odesa Oblast, 16,700; and in Kyiv Oblast, 16,500.
In terms of the number of closures, the Dnipropetrovsk region follows Kyiv with 14,900 sole proprietorships. In the Odesa and Kharkiv regions, approximately 11,500 entrepreneurs each ceased operations, and in the Lviv region, 10,200 did so.
In total, 222,288 new sole proprietorships were established in Ukraine during the first nine months of 2026, while 155,645 were closed. The net increase in small businesses amounted to 66,643 sole proprietorships.
Source: Opendatabot — sole proprietorship statistics for January–September 2026.
As of the end of July 2026, there were 7,865 businesses and entrepreneurs operating in the jewelry sector in Ukraine, 84% of which are registered as sole proprietors, according to data from the Unified State Register analyzed by Opendatabot. The study was published on August 17, 2026.
In total, there are 6,583 sole proprietors and 1,282 companies operating in the market, engaged in the production and sale of jewelry, as well as the repair of jewelry and watches.
However, the trends in these two segments differ significantly. The number of legal entities in the jewelry industry has been growing for five consecutive years, including after the start of the full-scale war. By the end of 2025, 54 more jewelry companies were registered than ceased operations.
Among sole proprietors, the situation is less stable. In 2021–2022, the number of closures exceeded the number of registrations by 498. In 2023, the segment returned to growth, and in 2024, the net increase reached a record 611 entrepreneurs. However, by 2025, the trend had shifted again—there were 169 more sole proprietorships that ceased operations than new ones.
Kyiv remains the main hub of the jewelry business, with 1,365 registered manufacturers, retailers, and other industry participants.
In second place is the Zaporizhzhia region with 679 enterprises, followed by the Kyiv region with 585, the Kharkiv region with 548, and the Dnipropetrovsk region with 484.
Thus, despite the dominance of small businesses, the structure of Ukraine’s jewelry market is gradually changing: the number of sole proprietorships is declining, while the number of companies continues to grow.
entrepreneur, jewelry business, KYIV, Sole proprietorship, UKRAINE
The packaging materials manufacturer Pak Van LLC (Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Oblast) has been granted member status in the “Bila Tserkva” Industrial Park, according to the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.
According to the announcement, an agreement on conducting business activities within the “Bila Tserkva” IP was signed between the park’s management company, Astrobild LLC, and Pak Van LLC on May 20, 2026.
“Pak Van” manufactures polymer screw caps and PET bottles, as well as other plastic products for beverages, dairy products, cosmetics, and household chemicals.
The company was registered in May 2015; 100% of its authorized capital is owned by Denis Bondarenko, an entrepreneur registered in the Kirovohrad region.
In 2025, the company nearly tripled its net profit compared to 2024—to 14.6 million UAH—while net revenue grew by 5% to 269.2 million UAH. In the first quarter of 2026, it reported 2.8 million UAH in net profit and 60 million UAH in revenue.
The projects of entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytskyi’s holding company UFuture—IP “Bila Tserkva” and “Bila Tserkva 2”—were included in the Register of Industrial Parks in 2018. The parks are home to more than two dozen tenants (including foreign companies).
The total area of the parks is 70.3 hectares, of which 45 hectares have already been developed. More than 85,000 square meters of industrial and warehouse real estate have been commissioned.
