More than 202,000 new sole proprietors registered in Ukraine in a year - data

More than 202,000 new sole proprietors, or FOPs, were registered in Ukraine in a year following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to Opendatabot, a consultancy focusing on analysis of state statistics.

After the outbreak of the great war, Ukraine’s state registers did not work for some time, making it impossible to register a sole proprietorship. Later, when Diia, Ukraine’s e-government platform, allowed for setting up a business online, more than 1,000 new sole proprietors registered in the first day.

In April, the number of FOPs registered in a month increased tenfold, to 12,600, and since then was gradually picking up, peaking in September at 20,100.

After a slight decline in the autumn and early winter – most likely due to blackouts and massive Russian shelling of civilian infrastructure – the number of new small and medium-sized businesses in Ukraine began to grow again in early 2023.

Most new sole proprietorships since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion were registered in Kyiv (29,000), followed by the Lviv region (16,800) and the Dnipro region (15,900).

Newly registered FOPs work mostly in retail, followed by IT services and wholesale trade in motor vehicles, with Information and personal services ending up fifth and seventh, respectively.