How many sole proprietorships are in Saudi Arabia?
A sole proprietorship — an 'establishment' (مؤسسة) in the Ministry's terms — is a business registered directly to one individual, with no separate legal personality. It is the most common registration in the Kingdom by a wide margin, covering most shops, workshops and small service businesses.
1.28M
active registrations — 66.8% of all commercial registrations in the Kingdom.
Ministry of Commerce data · Q2 2026
There are 1,278,333 active sole proprietorships in Saudi Arabia as of 30 June 2026, 66.8% of all active commercial registrations. 44,943 were created in Q2 2026 and still active at quarter end — 66.8% of new registrations.
Riyadh (345,811), Makkah (293,028) and the Eastern Province (187,524) hold the most, together 64.6% of the national total.
- Active registrations
- 1,278,333
- 66.8% of all CRs
- Registered in Q2 2026
- 44,943
- 66.8% of new registrations
- Largest region
- Riyadh
- 345,811 registrations
- Regions present
- 13
- of 13
By region
Active registrations by region
Where it is most common
Share of each city's active registrations
- Al Jafr98.4%1,977
- Al Qouz97.6%2,160
- Ahad Al-Masarihah97.6%3,309
- Al Majardah96.8%2,006
- Samtah96.5%5,101
- Baish96.4%3,767
- Ahad Rufaidah96%3,102
- Turaif95.5%2,485
- Baqaa95%2,414
- Abu Arish94.9%7,340
Saudi nationals and GCC citizens. Foreign investors cannot hold an establishment; the equivalent route for them is a single-person LLC.
Other business structures
Common questions
How many sole proprietorships are there in Saudi Arabia?
1,278,333 active registrations as of 30 June 2026, according to Ministry of Commerce data — 66.8% of all active commercial registrations.
How many were registered in Q2 2026?
44,943 registrations created in Q2 2026 were still active at quarter end.
Who can use this structure?
Saudi nationals and GCC citizens. Foreign investors cannot hold an establishment; the equivalent route for them is a single-person LLC.
Figures are Alpha Consultancy's analysis of the Ministry of Commerce's open datasets on the Saudi Open Data Platform (open.data.gov.sa): the register of active commercial registrations (CRs) as of 30 June 2026.
Active CRsinclude main and branch registrations, as in the Ministry's own totals. Registered in a period counts CRs created in that period that were still active on 30 June 2026; registrations since cancelled are not in the source file, so older periods read lower than the number originally issued.
The Ministry's extract is dated 30 June 2026; it was taken at the start of that day, so registrations created on the reference date itself are not included.
No individual business is identified on these pages; only aggregate counts are published.
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