Mass closure: over 45 thousand new sole proprietorships did not last even a year

According to the Unified State Register, in January-September 2025, more than 225 thousand new individual entrepreneurs (IEPs) were registered in Ukraine, and more than 213 thousand IEPs ceased their activities.

This is reported by ” Opendatabot “.

In the first nine months of 2025, 225,046 new individual entrepreneurs were registered in Ukraine, which is almost in line with the figures for the same period last year. After a lull at the beginning of the year, registration activity gradually increased: in January, 21.4 thousand individual entrepreneurs were opened, and in September – a record 29.6 thousand.

At the same time, 213,293 entrepreneurs closed their activities in 2025, which is 11% more than last year. It is especially noteworthy that more than 45 thousand closed individual entrepreneurs were opened in 2024 alone. In total, 15 thousand more businesses appeared on the private entrepreneurship market than closed.

The leaders in the number of new individual entrepreneurs were Kyiv (30.5 thousand), Dnipropetrovsk region (22.2 thousand) and Lviv region (17.2 thousand). The top five is completed by Kyiv region (16.7 thousand) and Odessa region (16.4 thousand). The most frequently closed individual entrepreneurs were in Kyiv (27.5 thousand), Dnipropetrovsk (19.1 thousand), Kharkiv (17.7 thousand) regions and Odessa region (16.1 thousand).

Traditionally, the most popular field among new entrepreneurs is trade — both retail (29%) and wholesale (8%). Other popular areas include IT, restaurant business, and information services. Entrepreneurs are closing mainly in the same areas.

This year, women make up 60% of new sole proprietors, and in Sumy Oblast their share exceeds 63%. They are actively choosing services, education, clothing production, and medicine, while men stick to courier delivery, logistics, construction, and equipment repair.

Foreigners are also actively entering private entrepreneurship: 1,648 new individual entrepreneurs were opened by non-residents, mainly citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Moldova, and Armenia.

This balance of new and closed enterprises allowed the FOPonomics of Ukraine to turn a profit in the third quarter of 2025, demonstrating the stability and growth of small businesses even in conditions of economic fluctuations.

By the way, general mobilization is underway in Ukraine due to the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. Despite this, the issue of the possibility of a deferment for individual entrepreneurs (IEPs) remains relevant for many . Lawyers explained in which cases entrepreneurs can avoid conscription.

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