1. Why the “mass liquidation” is not a crisis
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16 700 IT‑FOPs closed in Q1 2025 – triple last year’s figure.
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Surge caused by a backlog: the Unified State Register froze for two months after a late‑2023 cyber‑attack; as soon as it reopened on 9 January, queued closures were processed.
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In Q2 the wave subsided—8 800 closures, close to the 2024 average.
2. New registrations almost match the losses
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18 500 new IT individual entrepreneurs appeared in H1 2025—only 4.8 % below H1 2024.
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Net balance for six months is –7 000 FOPs (openings minus closures), but the creation rate proves the industry is still attractive even under war‑time pressure.
3. Fresh growth points beyond the usual centres
| Region | YoY growth in new IT‑FOPs | What’s driving it? |
|---|---|---|
| Zakarpattia | +28.7 % | Safer location, lower rents |
| Poltava | +17.5 % | Return of relocated firms |
| Rivne | +14.1 % | Cost‑effective talent pool |
Kyiv (3 700 new FOPs) remains the heavyweight, followed by Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv oblasts, but the map of activity is clearly widening.
4. Women still lead—yet exits are rising
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51.6 % of all new IT‑FOPs in H1 2025 were opened by women.
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Female share of closures climbed to 39 % in Q2 (vs 29.6 % last year).
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Possible reasons: greater family load during war, burnout, migration or career shifts.
5. What the data tell us
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The liquidation spike was technical, not structural.
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Entrepreneurial appetite in IT remains intact: almost one new FOP for every closure.
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Decentralisation trend continues as specialists move to less risky, cheaper regions.
Methodology
YouControl.Market analysed the Unified State Register for FOPs whose primary KVED codes fall under software development, telecoms, data processing, IT consulting, web portals and related services. Periods compared: H1 2024 vs H1 2025.
