Foreign business in Ukraine: citizens of which countries are most active in opening sole proprietorships
13 October 2025 11:18
More than 1.6 thousand sole proprietorships were opened by foreigners in Ukraine in 9 months of 2025. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to data from Opendatabot.
1,648 sole proprietorships were registered by foreigners in Ukraine this year. This is 10% less than in the same period last year. Overall, only 0.7% of the total number of new entrepreneurs this year are non-residents of Ukraine.
At the same time, 1158 foreign sole proprietors ceased their activities during the same period. The net increase amounted to 490 non-resident entrepreneurs. In total, more than 213 thousand entrepreneurs closed in Ukraine during this period, so the share of foreigners is only 0.5%.
Unlike nationals, foreigners start more businesses with men: 69% versus 31% of female entrepreneurs.
It is worth noting that non-resident sole proprietors are quite stable: the median time of work of such an entrepreneur in Ukraine is 3.1 years. The record holder was a woman with Russian citizenship whose fop had been operating for 30 years and closed earlier this year. By comparison, Ukrainian fops live even a little less: 2.5 years.
Opening and closing of fops by foreigners:
| Month | January 2025 | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | 117 | 195 | 173 | 182 | 183 | 190 | 203 | 179 | 226 |
| Closure of the | 294 | 143 | 118 | 113 | 101 | 108 | 96 | 74 | 111 |
Who opens a sole proprietorship in Ukraine
The largest number of non-resident entrepreneurs registered this year came from the following countries:
- Azerbaijan – 229 sole proprietors (14%),
- Russian Federation – 222 (14%),
- Uzbekistan – 160 (10%),
- Moldova – 125 (8%),
- Armenia – 95 (6%).
At the same time, the majority of those who ceased their activities are citizens:
- Russia – 241 (21%),
- Azerbaijan – 157 (14%),
- Moldova – 102 (9%),
- Uzbekistan – 91 (8%),
- Belarus – 69 (6%).
Where foreigners do business
Every third foreign individual entrepreneur chooses Kyiv, with 544 new entrepreneurs registered here.
Odesa region is in second place with 300 sole proprietors (18%).
They are followed by:
- Kyiv region – 138 (8%),
- Kharkiv region – 104 (6%),
- Lviv region – 83 (5%).
The smallest number of foreign entrepreneurs work in Volyn, Chernihiv, Sumy, Donetsk, and Kherson regions – from 2 to 17 sole proprietors.
The majority of foreign businesses close in the same regions: 297 (26%) in Kyiv, followed by Odesa (17%), Kharkiv (9%), Kyiv (8%), and Dnipro (5%) regions.
What industries do foreigners work in?
The most popular area for starting a business among foreigners is retail – almost one in three sole proprietors is engaged in it.
Other popular areas are:
- catering – 14%,
- wholesale trade – 9%,
- computer programming – 6%,
- information services – 4%.
The most frequently closed businesses are from the same industries: retail (37%), IT (10%), and catering (9%).
