News of Bahrain
Bahrain5 February 20261 min read

MSMEs make up 93% of active businesses

Bahrain has 85,700 active business registrations for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, accounting for 93.4 per cent of all active registrations in the Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The figures show

Editorial Team Legacy

Published 5 February 2026, 8:00 · Updated 18:14

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MSMEs make up 93% of active businesses

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain has 85,700 active business registrations for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, accounting for 93.4 per cent of all active registrations in the Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

The figures show the scale of the MSME base across ownership, jobs, business growth, and trade.

Bahraini owners account for 75.1 per cent of the registrations. Women own 34.6 per cent of the businesses, while youth ownership stands at 27.5 per cent.

Jobs

On employment, the data shows MSMEs account for jobs for almost half of Bahrainis working in the private sector.

The number of Bahrainis employed in micro, small and medium-sized firms reached 46,300 by the second quarter of 2025, according to the Information and eGovernment Authority, up 4.3 per cent in 2025 compared with 2024.

The number of businesses also changed by size category as firms moved into larger groups.

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