Russian Business Registrations Increase 3.3% in H1 2026

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. The number of companies and individual entrepreneurs registered in Russia in the first half of 2026 rose by 3.3% to 614,000, according to data from the Rusprofile counterparty verification service seen by TASS.

"From January through June, almost 614,000 new companies and individual entrepreneurs were registered in Russia, of which about 580,000 are currently active. This is 3.3% more than in the same period last year, when about 594,000 business entities were registered," Rusprofile said.

The Kemerovo Region led growth in new companies and individual entrepreneurs. From January through June, 8,607 organizations were opened in the region, up 20% from the first half of 2025. The top five also included the Kirov Region, up 19.1%; the Irkutsk Region, up 19%; the Kaliningrad Region, up 18.8%; and the Pskov Region, up 18.2%. The Republics of Karelia and Mari El shared sixth and seventh place, each up 17.7%. They were followed by the Kursk Region and the Chuvash Republic, each up 17.5%. The Yaroslavl Region rounded out the top 10, up 17.2%.

Overall, 65 regions showed positive dynamics in the first half of the year. At the bottom of the list were the Nenets Autonomous District, down 20.7%; the Donetsk People's Republic, down 24.9%; the Lugansk People's Republic, down 27.1%; the Kherson Region, down 40.4%; and the Zaporozhye Region, down 45%.

Moscow posted negative dynamics, down 5.5%, but ranked first in absolute terms, with 66,729 companies and individual entrepreneurs registered in the capital from January through June. The top five also included the Moscow Region with 42,270 registrations, the Krasnodar Region with 33,044, St. Petersburg with 27,381, and the Sverdlovsk Region with 17,971. The fewest business entities were registered in the Kherson Region, with 643; the Magadan Region, with 601; the Jewish Autonomous Region, with 420; the Chukotka Autonomous District, with 164; and the Nenets Autonomous District, with 23.

The overwhelming majority of new registrations were individual entrepreneurs, whose share stood at 87.9% in the first half of 2026, compared with 83.8% in the first half of 2025.