In Ukraine, from January through June 2026, 108,561 thousand new enforcement proceedings were initiated due to arrears in housing and utility services, according to data from the Unified Register of Debtors published by Opendatabot on August 3.
70,206 thousand cases remain open and unpaid, or 65% of those initiated this year. They account for about 9% of all utility debts currently recorded in the registry.
In total, as of early July, the Unified Register of Debtors contained 829,768 thousand cases related to utility debt. For comparison: in November 2025, there were 794,604 thousand; in July 2024, 701,051 thousand; and in January 2021, 344,565 thousand.
Thus, over five and a half years, the number of utility debt entries has increased by approximately 2.4 times.
About 62% of the cases in the registry are formally closed, but this does not necessarily mean that the debt has been repaid. An enforcement officer may close a case due to the impossibility of collection or for other reasons, while the debt record remains in the registry.
Some cases have remained open for more than nine years. Among the oldest cases are a heating debt owed by a resident of the Chernihiv region and a debt for water supply and sewer services owed by a resident of the Lviv region.
However, the number of enforcement proceedings does not equal the number of unique debtors: multiple cases may be opened against a single person regarding different services or periods of debt.
The Unified Register of Debtors contains information on individuals and legal entities against whom enforcement proceedings have been initiated. You can check for an entry through the state register or the Opendatabot service.
debtor, enforcement proceedings, REGISTER, UKRAINE, Utility debt
The business confidence index for Ukraine’s construction market rose by 4 percentage points (pp) in the third quarter of 2026 compared to the second quarter, reaching “minus” 21.1%, according to the State Statistics Service (State Statistics Service). According to a survey of construction companies conducted by the agency, the assessment of the current volume of orders improved by 6.3 p.p. to “minus” 35.2%. Thus, 60% of the surveyed companies assessed their current order volume as normal for the season, while 38% assessed it as insufficient.
Sixty-one percent of respondents expect prices for their services to rise by the end of the third quarter of this year. Only 2% of respondents forecast a decrease in the cost of construction work, while 36% do not expect any changes in pricing policy.
According to State Statistics Service data, the companies participating in the survey have an average of six months’ worth of orders, which corresponds to the pre-war level at the beginning of 2022.
The State Statistics Service notes that in the third quarter of 2026, the construction sector will be negatively affected by labor shortages (53.6%), financial constraints (47.9%), insufficient demand (20.7%), and other factors (42.3%).
About 25% of the surveyed companies expect a reduction in their workforce in July–September, while 56% believe their workforce will remain unchanged, and 19% forecast an expansion of their workforce.
According to the State Statistics Service, 43% of respondents reported an increase in the volume of construction work completed in the previous quarter, while 22% reported a decrease.
The survey showed that 98% of Ukrainian construction companies find it quite difficult to predict future business trends.
The statistical data does not include territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation or parts of territories where hostilities are (or were) taking place.
BUSINESS EXPECTATIONS, CONSTRUCTION MARKET, State Statistics Service, UKRAINE
According to “Serbian Economist”, Ukraine ranked 28th among Serbia’s trading partners in the first half of 2026.
Total trade between the two countries amounted to 275.9 million euros, compared to 194.6 million euros a year earlier. Thus, trade volume increased by approximately 41.8%. This is according to data from the Republic of Serbia’s Statistical Office, published on July 31, 2026.
Serbian exports to Ukraine rose by 80.2% to 161.3 million euros. Imports of Ukrainian goods increased by 9% to 114.6 million euros.
As a result, Serbia shifted from a deficit of 15.6 million euros in the first half of 2025 to a surplus of 46.7 million euros in January–June 2026.
Ukraine accounted for 0.9% of Serbia’s total exports and 0.5% of its imports.
Despite rapid growth, the volume of trade remains modest compared to the potential of both countries. Serbia’s trade with Ukraine is nearly 19 times smaller than its trade with Germany and approximately 16 times smaller than its trade with China.
In the first half of 2026, Ukrainians registered 30,488 thousand marriages online, or about 38% of the total, OpenDataBot reported on July 31, citing data from the Ministry of Justice. Thus, nearly four out of ten couples used the remote marriage registration procedure. In total, 79,516 thousand marriages were registered in Ukraine from January through June.
Digital offices for civil status registration are currently operating in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Lviv. These cities and their respective regions showed the largest increase in the number of registered marriages.
In Kyiv, the number increased by 38% compared to the first half of 2025; in the Dnipropetrovsk region, it increased 2.7-fold; and in the Lviv region, it increased 1.9-fold. OpenDataBot suggests that this trend is largely due to the spread of online registration.
The remote format is particularly important for military personnel, couples living in different cities or countries, and Ukrainians who are unable to visit a Civil Registry Office in person.
At the same time, in most other regions, the number of registered marriages decreased compared to the same period last year.
Civil Registry Office, marriage, ONLINE, REGISTRATION, UKRAINE
In Ukraine, 79,516 thousand marriages were registered from January through June 2026, which is 16% more than during the same period last year, OpenDataBot reported on July 31, citing data from the Ministry of Justice.
On average, about 13,300 couples got married each month in Ukraine during the first half of the year. At the same time, the total number of marriages for the year may turn out to be significantly higher, as Ukrainians traditionally tend to register their marriages more often in the second half of the year. In 2025, the difference between the two halves of the year was 41%.
The most popular date in the first half of the year was June 26, 2026. On the palindromic date of 06/26/2026, 2,528 thousand couples registered their marriages. Another 1,248 thousand couples got married on February 14, Valentine’s Day.
The increase in the total number of marriages was largely driven by Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv regions. These three regions accounted for more than half of all marriages registered in the country.
One of the main factors was the expansion of remote civil registration: four out of ten marriages in the first half of the year were registered online.
Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv regions accounted for more than half of all marriages registered in Ukraine in the first half of 2026. In total, 79,516 marriages were registered nationwide over the six-month period, OpenDataBot reported on July 31, citing data from the Ministry of Justice.
The highest number of marriages was registered in Kyiv—19,928, or approximately one in four of the total. Compared to the same period last year, the capital’s figure rose by 38%.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, 15,545 thousand couples got married. This is 2.7 times more than in the first half of 2025. Lviv Oblast ranked third with 8,909 thousand marriages, marking a 1.9-fold increase.
In fact, these three regions accounted for about 56% of all marriages registered in the country.
One possible explanation for this concentration may be the operation of the Digital Civil Registry Offices in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Lviv. During the first half of the year, 30,488 thousand couples got married remotely.
In other regions, the number of marriages mostly decreased. This means that official regional statistics reflect not only the place of residence of the newlyweds but also the concentration of the digital infrastructure for civil registration.
