Business in Ukraine: how often Sole Proprietorships close in the first year of operation.

Advice for women: how to open a Sole Proprietorship in 2024

According to the Unified State Register (USR), over 194 thousand new sole proprietorships (SPs) were opened by Ukrainians in the first 8 months of 2024. Of these, 60% are women. However, over 120 thousand SPs closed during this period, many of them in the first year of operation.

Regarding the distribution of new SPs by regions, the most entrepreneurs were registered in the capital (13.6%), as well as in Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Kyiv, and Kharkiv regions.

There is noticeable growth in the number of new SPs in Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, and Chernihiv regions, but business activity has decreased in Luhansk and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. It should also be noted that the number of registrations in Kharkiv region decreased by 6%.

Trade, IT sector, and provision of individual services are the main directions for new SPs. However, compared to the previous year, there is now more demand for providing information services rather than cafes and restaurants.

It is noteworthy that the number of women among new entrepreneurs has increased to 60%, compared to 55.6% in 2023 and 47% in the first year of SP operation.

Currently, the number of new SPs exceeds the number of closed ones. Of the SPs registered in 2023, 24.5% closed, and of those that opened in 2024, 13.7% closed. On average, the SPs that closed this year operated for 2 years and 7 months.

Most SPs closed in Kyiv (13%), Kharkiv (8%), and Dnipropetrovsk (8%) regions.