Ukrainian microbusiness in Poland
Over 24 thousand new active economic activities in 2023 and 14.6 thousand from January to May 2024. The most popular specialty is software-related activities. Favorite cities are Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw. This is what Ukrainian microbusiness looks like in Poland in the last dozen or so months - according to data from the analytical company InfoCredit.
The number of businesses run by Ukrainian citizens in Poland has been growing steadily since 2022. The first significant wave was recorded right after war refugees started arriving in our country. It took only six months for our neighbors to register nearly 8,500 active businesses in Poland (at the end of 2021, there were 7,117). There are more and more of them every year. The type of business is also changing. There are fewer and fewer favorite voivodeships and cities – according to an analysis by InfoCredit.
In 2023, Ukrainian citizens established 30,363 businesses in Poland, of which 24,031 were active at the end of December. From July to May 2024, another 15,983 microbusinesses were established, of which 14,641 were active.
Ukrainian citizens conduct business mainly in the largest urban centers. And this is not changing. Their main targets are the Mazowieckie (7,751 businesses in 2023 and 4,306 in 2024), Dolnośląskie (4,303 and 2,122) and Małopolskie (4,022 and 2,113). Eastern Poland is not popular here. The Śląskie Voivodeship, where unemployment is relatively low compared to the country (lower only in Wielkopolska), has a fairly good ratio of housing prices to rental prices, and is only in 6th place.
When it comes to favourite cities, there are no changes here either. The most popular are Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw. Interestingly, other major Polish cities are far behind the top three. Katowice did not make it into the top seven.
Interestingly, in 2023 and 2024 there was a change in the most popular PKD in businesses established by Ukrainian citizens. In 2022, the number 1 specialty was hairdressing and beauty services. Now – software-related activities. And the advantage of this specialty is growing significantly. Gastronomic activities dropped out of the top six, and it was still there in 2022.
