ASTANA, January 21. /Dunyo IA/. The number of companies and branches with foreign participation registered in Kazakhstan increased by 4,400 in 2025, reaching a total of 63,900 legal entities as of January 1, 2026, reports Dunyo IA correspondent, citing the economic online publication “Kursiv”.

It is noted that Uzbek businesses played a significant role in this growth. By the end of 2025, Uzbekistan ranked among the two leading countries in terms of net increase of companies in Kazakhstan. The number of legal entities with Uzbek participation rose by 2,500, reaching 8,200 registered companies. In terms of growth rate, Uzbekistan was second only to China, whose businesses contributed an increase of 2,800 companies, bringing the total number of Chinese-affiliated legal entities in Kazakhstan to 8,000.

Thus, Uzbekistan and China emerged as the primary drivers of foreign business expansion in Kazakhstan. Growth from other countries was considerably more modest: for example, the number of companies with Azerbaijani participation increased by only 102 legal entities, while for most other countries the growth did not exceed 100 companies.

Amid the strong influx of Uzbek businesses, the presence of companies from several other countries has noticeably declined. Russia, which remains the leader in terms of the total number of active companies in Kazakhstan (around 23,000) saw a decrease of 468 legal entities over the year. Declines were also recorded for Kyrgyzstan (-313) and Türkiye (-209).

By structure, the majority of foreign-participation companies in Kazakhstan are small businesses, totalling 63,400 legal entities. There are 359 medium-sized and 222 large companies.

The most in-demand sectors for foreign, including Uzbek, businesses remain automobile trade and repair, with 23,500 registered companies, followed by other service provision (10,100), construction (5,900) and scientific and technical activities (4,300).