BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 6. Employment in micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kyrgyzstan rebounded strongly in 2023, reaching 106,000 workers.
The data obtained by TurkicWorld from the 2025 edition of the Asia Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Monitor (ASM) published by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) shows that MSMEs accounted for 51.2 percent of total employment, up from 47.1 percent in 2022.
Small enterprises employed 68,000 people, while medium-sized firms employed 39,000. Large enterprises accounted for 101,000 employees, bringing total employment across all enterprises to 208,000. MSME employment grew 15.3 percent in 2023, following a period of slower expansion in previous years.
The services sector continued to be the predominant employer within the MSME landscape, with the "other services" category accounting for 29.9 percent of the workforce, followed by wholesale and retail trade at 18.2 percent. Manufacturing was responsible for 30.6 percent of employment, while construction provided 13.3 percent, and transportation and communication sectors employed 3.9 percent. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries collectively contributed 4.1 percent of the workforce.
Geographically, more than half of the MSME workforce (51.2 percent) was concentrated in the capital city of Bishkek, with the remaining 48.8 percent employed across other regions of Kyrgyzstan.
