The UAE added about 250,000 new companies during 2025, taking the total number of registered businesses in the country to roughly 1.4 million by the end of the year, according to figures given by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism.
Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri set out the numbers in a briefing on Federal Decree Law No. 20 of 2025, which amends the Commercial Companies Law, and said the country is working towards two million registered companies within the next decade.
The 2025 total builds on official data published earlier in the year: state news agency WAM reported that more than 220,186 new companies entered the market between January and the end of November 2025, meaning company formation stayed strong through the final weeks of the year.
Officials link the growth to simplified licensing, long-term residency options and legislative updates, and to broader economic expansion of around 5% in 2025. Planned changes to limited liability company rules, with similar work signalled for public stock companies, are expected to reduce paperwork for founders further.
For business owners the practical takeaways are that company set-up rules are still being loosened rather than tightened, and that competition in mainland and free zone markets keeps rising as the base of registered companies grows.