How many companies are in the Northern Borders region?
Commercial registrations in the Northern Borders region by city, business structure and date of creation, with how the region compares with the rest of Saudi Arabia.
17.4K
active commercial registrations — 0.9% of the Kingdom, ranked 12 of 13 regions.
Ministry of Commerce data · Q2 2026
The Northern Borders region has 17,393 active commercial registrations as of 30 June 2026 — 0.9% of Saudi Arabia's 1,912,733, making it the 12th-largest of the Kingdom's 13 regions. Of these, 15,874 are sole proprietorships (establishments), 1,518 are companies, and 1 are branches of GCC or foreign companies.
616 registrations created in Q2 2026 were still active at quarter end, 0.9% of the national total. That is in line with its share of all active registrations.
Limited liability companies make up 75.4% of companies in the Northern Borders region and 43% of companies are single-person entities. The median paid-up capital of a company registered here is SAR 5k, in line with the national median of SAR 5k.
Arar is the region's commercial centre, with 56.3% of its active registrations. Registrations are spread across 25 cities and towns in total.
- Active registrations
- 17,393
- 0.9% of Saudi Arabia
- Registered in Q2 2026
- 616
- 0.9% of Saudi Arabia
- Companies
- 1,518
- 15,874 sole proprietorships
- Median company capital
- SAR 5k
- Saudi Arabia: SAR 5k
New registrations by quarter — the Northern Borders region
Still-active CRs by the quarter they were created. Cancelled registrations are excluded, so earlier quarters read lower.
Business structures
Active registrations by legal form
- Sole proprietorship15,87491.3%
- LLC1,1446.6%
- General partnership3261.9%
- JSC430.2%
- Limited partnership4<0.1%
- SJSC1<0.1%
- Foreign branch1<0.1%
Company capital
Paid-up capital of 1,324 companies with their main registration in the Northern Borders region
- Under SAR 10k79460%
- SAR 10k–100k26319.9%
- SAR 100k–500k15411.6%
- SAR 500k–5m564.2%
- SAR 5m+574.3%
Company variants
Share of all 1,518 companies
- Single-person companies65343%
- Holding companies634.2%
- Professional companies362.4%
Registrations by city in the Northern Borders region
The largest cities among 25 cities and towns with registrations in the region.
Common questions
How many companies are registered in the Northern Borders region?
As of 30 June 2026, the Northern Borders region has 17,393 active commercial registrations: 1,518 companies and 15,874 sole proprietorships (establishments), according to Ministry of Commerce data.
How many new businesses were registered in the Northern Borders region in Q2 2026?
616 commercial registrations created in Q2 2026 were still active at the end of the quarter — 0.9% of the national total.
What is the most common business structure in the Northern Borders region?
The sole proprietorship (establishment) is the most common, with 15,874 active registrations (91.3%). It is followed by the LLC at 1,144.
What is the typical capital of a company in the Northern Borders region?
The median paid-up capital of a company with its main registration in the Northern Borders region is SAR 5k; the middle half report between SAR 5k and SAR 40k.
Can a foreign investor set up a company in the Northern Borders region?
Yes. Foreign investors can own 100% of a company in most activities after obtaining a MISA investment licence, then registering the company with the Ministry of Commerce. Alpha Consultancy handles the licence, commercial registration and post-registration setup in every region.
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.
Setting up a company in the Northern Borders region?
We handle the MISA licence, commercial registration and everything after it for companies setting up in the Northern Borders region.