Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The number of active enterprises and organisations in Uzbekistan reached 660,400 as of 1 November 2026, an increase of 19% year on year, the National Statistics Committee said.
The total rose by 39,337 in October. The monthly increase was mainly driven by 34,910 enterprises resuming operations, according to the committee.
A year earlier, on 1 November 2025, Uzbekistan had 554,916 active enterprises and organisations.
The number of active businesses has fluctuated over the past five years. It stood at 596,026 on 1 November 2022, fell to 503,541 in 2023, then rose to 561,382 in 2024.
The country currently has 493,982 business entities. Small businesses account for 489,080 of them. A further 101,101 are farms and dehkan farms.
Small enterprises and microfirms account for 489,100 units, or 74.1% of the total, excluding farms and dehkan farms.
Regional distribution
Tashkent has the largest number of active enterprises and organisations, with 123,934, accounting for 18.8% of the national total. Of these, 115,184 are business entities, while only 59 are farms and dehkan farms.
Among the regions, Tashkent region leads with 63,259 enterprises, or 9.6% of the total. It is followed by Samarkand region with 61,298 (9.3%) and Ferghana region with 55,119 (8.3%).
Kashkadarya region ranks fifth nationally, with 49,377 enterprises, or 7.5%.
Andijan region has 44,896 enterprises, Bukhara region 38,784 and Namangan region 38,602. Khorezm region has 37,011, while Surkhandarya region has 36,270.
Karakalpakstan has 32,466 active enterprises and organisations, and Jizzakh region 32,058. The lowest figures were recorded in Navoi region, with 26,240, and Syrdarya region, with 21,078.
Kashkadarya region has the largest number of farms and dehkan farms, at 13,743. Samarkand region has 12,012, Ferghana region 11,378 and Andijan region 10,503.
Breakdown by sector
Trade remained the largest sector as of 1 November, accounting for 27.4% of active enterprises and organisations, or 181,146 units. Almost all of them were small businesses.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing ranked second, with 148,352 enterprises, or 22.5% of the total. Of these, 46,767 were business entities.
Industry ranked third, with 71,135 enterprises, accounting for 10.8%. The three largest sectors together represented more than 60.7% of all active enterprises and organisations.
The accommodation and food services sector had 37,495 enterprises (5.7%), while construction accounted for 36,658 (5.6%). Transport and storage had 20,731 companies (3.1%).
Healthcare and social services accounted for 16,243 organisations (2.5%), while information and communications had 15,286 (2.3%).
Other activities accounted for 133,346 enterprises, or 20.2% of the total.
Legal forms of businesses
Of approximately 494,000 active commercial enterprises, 395,900, or 80.1%, were limited liability companies (LLCs), making this the most common legal form in Uzbekistan.
The country also had 52,022 private enterprises (10.5%), 41,170 family enterprises (8.3%) and 652 joint-stock companies (0.1%). A further 4,285 enterprises (1%) operated under other legal forms.
The number of LLCs changed considerably over the past five years. It stood at 337,700 in 2022, fell to 297,000 in 2023 and 295,000 in 2024, then rose to 299,500 in 2025 and 395,900 in 2026.
The number of private enterprises declined from 90,200 in 2022 to 48,300 in 2025, before increasing to 52,000 in 2026.
Family enterprises also decreased, from 55,800 in 2022 to 37,700 in 2025, before rising to 41,200 in 2026.
Newly established enterprises
A total of 75,699 new enterprises were established in Uzbekistan between January and October 2026.
According to the Tax Committee, 19,440 of them, or 25.7%, had begun generating revenue from the sale of products, goods, work and services.
The assessment is based on tax returns for turnover tax and value-added tax (VAT) covering January–August 2026.
Enterprises with foreign investment
Uzbekistan had 23,501 enterprises with foreign investment as of 1 November. These included 5,137 joint ventures and 18,364 foreign-owned enterprises.
Their number increased by 5,906, or 33.6%, over the year.
Trade recorded the largest increase, from 6,286 to 8,473 enterprises, a rise of 2,187. The number of foreign-invested enterprises in industry increased by 846, from 3,647 to 4,493.
Construction recorded an increase of 597, from 1,358 to 1,955 enterprises.
Over five years, the number of active enterprises with foreign capital increased 1.8 times. The share of wholly foreign-owned companies among them rose from 57.5% to 78.1%.
The growth was driven primarily by foreign-owned enterprises. Their number stood at 7,416 in 2022, fell to 7,054 in 2023, then rose to 11,036 in 2024, 13,391 in 2025 and 18,364 in 2026.
The number of joint ventures fluctuated over the same period. It stood at 5,479 in 2022, 4,374 in 2023, 4,261 in 2024 and 4,204 in 2025, before rising to 5,137 in 2026.
By sector, trade had the largest number of foreign-invested enterprises, at 8,473. These comprised 7,253 foreign-owned companies and 1,220 joint ventures.
Industry had 4,493 such enterprises, including 1,613 joint ventures and 2,880 foreign-owned companies. Other activities accounted for 3,946 enterprises with foreign capital.
There were 1,991 foreign-invested enterprises in information and communications and 1,955 in construction. Accommodation and food services had 1,021.
Transport and storage accounted for 742 such companies, while agriculture, forestry and fishing had 603. Healthcare and social services had 277.
Geographical distribution of foreign investment
Tashkent accounted for 61.8% of all enterprises with foreign investment, with 14,534 companies. These included 11,767 foreign-owned enterprises and 2,767 joint ventures.
Among the regions, Tashkent region ranked first with 3,260 enterprises, or 13.9% of the national total. It was followed by Samarkand region with 832 (3.5%) and Ferghana region with 777 (3.3%).
Surkhandarya region had 823 enterprises with foreign capital, including 756 foreign-owned companies. Andijan region had 601, while Bukhara region had 495.
Syrdarya region recorded 390 such companies, Navoi region 363 and Namangan region 359. Jizzakh region had 326, while Karakalpakstan had 296.
The lowest numbers were recorded in Khorezm region, with 230, and Kashkadarya region, with 215.
Main countries of origin
China ranked first among countries of origin of foreign capital, with 7,106 enterprises, or 30.2% of the total. These included 6,127 foreign-owned companies and 979 joint ventures.
Russia ranked second, accounting for 16.5%, or 3,885 enterprises. Of these, 1,044 were joint ventures and 2,841 were foreign-owned.
Türkiye accounted for 10.8%, with 2,544 companies, while Kazakhstan represented 6.2%, with 1,446 enterprises.
Afghanistan was represented by 909 companies (3.9%), and South Korea by 783 (3.3%).
Other countries included Azerbaijan, with 554 enterprises; Tajikistan, with 512; and India, with 499. The United Arab Emirates had 480 companies, while Pakistan had 456.
The Kyrgyz Republic accounted for 416 enterprises, the United States for 403 and Turkmenistan for 354. Iran had 297 companies and Belarus 291.
Germany was represented by 270 enterprises, the United Kingdom by 266 and Ukraine by 256. Japan had the lowest figure among the listed countries, with 149 companies.
Between January and October 2026, Uzbekistan registered 5,025 new enterprises with foreign investment. Of these, 677, or 13.5%, had begun generating sales revenue.
The data are based on the database of the Ministry of Justice’s Public Services Centres as of 1 November 2026 and include farms and dehkan farms. The register is maintained under Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 539 of 28 September 2022.
