5,300 one-day FOPs this year

Due to the temporary suspension of business registries and the introduction of new taxes at the beginning of the year, there was a spike in FOP closures in the first quarter of 2025 — 119,895 entrepreneurs shut down their businesses.

However, in the second quarter, the situation stabilized: the number of new registrations almost matched last year’s, and closures even decreased. From April to June, 73,799 new FOPs were opened — just 3% less than during the same period last year. Meanwhile, 51,830 entrepreneurs closed their businesses — 27% fewer than in the same period last year.

In total, 137,557 new FOPs were registered in Ukraine during the first half of 2025, while 157,605 FOPs closed — meaning the “FOP economy” went negative by around 20,000 businesses.

More than one-third of the FOPs that closed in 2025 had operated for less than two years. 22% of them were opened last year (2024), 15% — in 2023. At the same time, the number of so-called “one-day FOPs” — businesses that exist no longer than two weeks — is growing. In 2025, 5,323 such cases have already been recorded. By comparison, in 2021 there were only 96 of them.

61% of all new FOPs this year were created by women — that’s 83.7 thousand. Men started 39% — or 53.8 thousand — of new businesses.

The most popular sectors among entrepreneurs are: retail trade — 39.5 thousand new FOPs, wholesale trade — 10.7 thousand. IT, information services, and individual service provision are also common choices. However, these same sectors are seeing the most closures: over 48,000 retail FOPs closed in the first half of the year, 18,000 IT FOPs shut down.

Some sectors show growth — more FOPs opened than closed: education: +2,541, healthcare: +1,203, law and accounting: +975.

The highest number of new businesses were opened in: Kyiv — 18.8 thousand, Dnipropetrovsk region — 13 thousand, Lviv region — 10.4 thousand.

However, Kyiv also leads in business closures: Kyiv — 20.6 thousand closures, Kharkiv region — 13.6 thousand, Dnipropetrovsk region — 13.6 thousand.

Despite the overall decline in new FOPs, some regions still have a positive balance, with more businesses opening than closing: Rivne region — +291, Lviv region — +179, Kyiv region — +175, Ivano-Frankivsk region — +101, Volyn region — +69.