# Businesses in Somalia: the 2024 business establishment census

> Business establishments in 16 Somali towns from the SNBS 2024 census: formal, informal and micro businesses, by activity, town, legal status, size, owner age and nationality, and workers by region, activity and sex.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/data/business-establishments-2024/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Where these numbers come from

The Somali National Bureau of Statistics (SNBS) carried out the Somalia Integrated Business Establishment Census (SIBEC) in 2024 and published the report in December 2024 ([SNBS, SIBEC 2024 report](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Business-Establishment-Census-Report-SIBEC-2024-29-12-2024.pdf); [SNBS, census page](https://nbs.gov.so/somalia-integrated-business-establishment-censussibec-2024/)). The main tables are repeated in *Somalia Facts and Figures 2024*, tables 2.9 to 2.11 ([SNBS, Facts and Figures 2024](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Facts-and-figures-2024.pdf)).

- **Where:** 16 towns, one or two in each of 14 regions, counted in three phases, starting with Banadir.
- **What counts:** businesses with a fixed place of work. The report sorts them into three types:
  - formal establishments, which hold a licence such as a municipality licence;
  - informal establishments, which have a fixed place but no licence;
  - micro-establishments, called kabars, which are small stalls and kiosks.
- **What is left out:** farming (except micro-establishments), public administration, household activities and mobile hawkers.

Every figure below is in the data file `somalia-business-establishments-2024.csv`, with the SNBS table number. See also [National Bureau of Statistics](/en/institutions/national-bureau-of-statistics/) and [GDP and national accounts, 2018 to 2024](/en/data/gdp-national-accounts-2018-2024/).

## Establishments by type

| Type | Establishments | Share |
|---|---:|---:|
| Formal | 47,934 | 27.5% |
| Informal | 43,207 | 24.8% |
| Micro-establishment (kabar) | 83,008 | 47.7% |
| **All** | **174,149** | **100%** |

Source: SIBEC 2024, table 2.1.

## Establishments by activity

| Activity | Establishments | Share |
|---|---:|---:|
| Wholesale and retail trade, and motor vehicle repair | 136,626 | 78.5% |
| Accommodation and food service | 16,894 | 9.7% |
| Other service activities | 8,470 | 4.9% |
| Manufacturing | 5,821 | 3.3% |
| Education | 1,655 | 1.0% |
| Human health and social work | 1,205 | 0.7% |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (micro only) | 1,124 | 0.6% |
| Administrative and support services | 841 | 0.5% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 504 | 0.3% |
| Information and communication | 492 | 0.3% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 311 | 0.2% |
| Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning | 128 | 0.1% |
| Water supply, sewerage and waste | 41 | under 0.1% |
| Real estate | 37 | under 0.1% |

Source: SIBEC 2024, table 2.2. Among micro-establishments alone, trade is 82.7 percent (68,657) and accommodation and food 9.8 percent (8,132) (table 4.1).

## Establishments by town

| Region | Town | All | Formal | Informal | Micro |
|---|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| Banadir | Mogadishu | 48,387 | 15,069 | 13,621 | 19,697 |
| Waqooyi Galbeed | Hargeisa | 29,560 | 7,696 | 7,734 | 14,130 |
| Bari | Bosaso | 19,308 | 5,561 | 4,806 | 8,941 |
| Mudug | Galkayo | 18,176 | 3,930 | 1,685 | 12,561 |
| Togdheer | Burao | 11,785 | 2,356 | 2,326 | 7,103 |
| Bay | Baidoa | 10,687 | 1,668 | 3,584 | 5,435 |
| Jubbada Hoose | Kismayo | 9,151 | 2,084 | 3,361 | 3,706 |
| Hiiraan | Beledweyne | 7,830 | 2,279 | 1,362 | 4,189 |
| Nugaal | Garowe | 7,399 | 3,479 | 1,374 | 2,546 |
| Gedo | Beletxawo | 2,353 | 1,287 | 942 | 124 |
| Waqooyi Galbeed | Berbera | 1,931 | 220 | 773 | 938 |
| Galgaduud | Adado | 1,841 | 631 | 170 | 633 |
| Galgaduud | Dhusamareeb | 1,744 | 643 | 468 | 1,040 |
| Shabeellaha Hoose | Barawe | 1,504 | 457 | 346 | 701 |
| Bakool | Hudur | 1,285 | 227 | 263 | 795 |
| Shabeellaha Dhexe | Jowhar | 1,208 | 347 | 392 | 469 |

Source: SIBEC 2024, tables 2.3, 3.4 and 4.2. Mogadishu has 27.8 percent of all establishments, Hargeisa 17.0 percent and [Bosaso](/en/regions/bari/) 11.1 percent.

## Legal status and size

These two tables cover the 91,141 formal and informal establishments. The census does not give legal status or size for micro-establishments.

| Legal status | Establishments | Share |
|---|---:|---:|
| Sole proprietorship | 82,842 | 90.9% |
| Partnership | 5,414 | 5.9% |
| NGO or other non-profit | 2,270 | 2.5% |
| Private limited company | 461 | 0.5% |
| Cooperative | 106 | 0.1% |
| Corporation or public enterprise | 48 | under 0.1% |

| Size | Establishments | Formal | Informal |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| 1 to 9 workers | 89,815 | 46,665 | 43,150 |
| 10 to 49 workers | 1,231 | 1,175 | 56 |
| 50 to 249 workers | 85 | 84 | 1 |
| 250 or more workers | 10 | 10 | 0 |

Source: SIBEC 2024, tables 3.2 and 3.5. The report's text gives slightly different counts for small and medium firms (1,215 and 101) than its table 3.5. The table figures are used here.

## Who owns them

For the 81,584 formal and informal establishments with a single owner:

- **Age:** owners aged 35 to 55 hold 48,650 (59.6 percent), 26 to 34 hold 25,116 (30.8 percent), 56 and over hold 5,776 (7.1 percent) and under 26 hold 1,806 (2.2 percent) (table 3.7).
- **Nationality:** Somali owners hold 81,325, or 99.7 percent. Owners from elsewhere in eastern Africa hold 148, other African countries 40, the Middle East 32, Asia 26 and Europe 3 (table 3.6).

## Workers by region and sex

| Region | Formal: women | Formal: men | Informal: women | Informal: men | Micro: women | Micro: men |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| Banadir | 9,879 | 34,311 | 7,979 | 12,855 | 13,408 | 8,410 |
| Waqooyi Galbeed | 6,463 | 16,302 | 5,473 | 8,187 | 10,470 | 7,380 |
| Bari | 4,185 | 9,125 | 3,669 | 4,044 | 6,651 | 2,759 |
| Mudug | 2,903 | 4,697 | 1,489 | 809 | 10,968 | 1,864 |
| Togdheer | 1,919 | 4,558 | 1,475 | 2,598 | 5,337 | 2,689 |
| Nugaal | 3,025 | 5,849 | 1,055 | 988 | 1,949 | 680 |
| Bay | 886 | 2,491 | 2,235 | 2,581 | 4,457 | 1,134 |
| Jubbada Hoose | 1,362 | 2,804 | 2,999 | 1,347 | 3,259 | 662 |
| Hiiraan | 1,307 | 2,212 | 1,129 | 523 | 3,730 | 534 |
| Galgaduud | 962 | 1,391 | 583 | 242 | 1,568 | 147 |
| Gedo | 898 | 891 | 768 | 405 | 119 | 37 |
| Shabeellaha Hoose | 134 | 833 | 172 | 297 | 536 | 177 |
| Bakool | 177 | 167 | 214 | 177 | 709 | 93 |
| Shabeellaha Dhexe | 148 | 596 | 218 | 234 | 353 | 139 |
| **All** | **34,248** | **86,227** | **29,458** | **35,287** | **63,514** | **26,705** |

Source: SIBEC 2024, tables 3.8 and 4.3.

- **All workers:** 275,439, of whom 127,220 (46 percent) are women.
- **By type:** women are 28 percent of workers in formal establishments, 45 percent in informal ones and 70 percent in micro-establishments.

## Workers by activity

In formal and informal establishments together, trade employs 110,865 people, or 59.9 percent of the 185,220 workers. Accommodation and food employs 23,617, manufacturing 11,897 and education 11,564. Women are 62 percent of the workers in informal accommodation and food businesses and 47 percent in informal trade. They are 12 percent in formal manufacturing (SIBEC 2024, table 3.9). The full table by sex is in the data file.

## How to use it

- **Download the data:** the CSV has one row per item and measure, with the SIBEC table number.
- **Check the originals:** the report and an analysis booklet ([SNBS, Business Establishment Analysis Booklet](https://nbs.gov.so/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Somalia-Business-Establishment-Analysis-Bookle.pdf)) are free on nbs.gov.so.
- **Compare with care:** the census covers 16 towns only, so it is not a count of every business in the country.
- **Other uses:** the World Bank drew the firms for its 2025 Enterprise Survey of Somalia from SIBEC-2024 ([World Bank Microdata Library, Somalia Enterprise Survey 2025](https://microdata.worldbank.org/catalog/8119)).

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