Estonia's e-residents are founding companies faster than ever
More than 4,200 companies in the first eight months of 2026, up 36 per cent on last year. The programme brought the state €57.6 million in seven months.
Estonia's e-Residency programme, which gives non-residents a government-issued digital identity to run an EU company online, is having its best year. E-residents have founded more than 4,200 companies so far in 2026, an average of 600 a month. That is 36 per cent more than in the same period of 2025 and 47 per cent more than in 2024.
Faster from card to company
New e-residents are moving quickly. Eight in ten new e-resident companies are created by people who became e-residents that year or the year before. Estonia has welcomed 9,000 new e-residents this year, and 34 per cent of those who joined in the first two months have already started a business, according to the programme's figures.
What the state gets back
In the first seven months of 2026 the programme generated €57.6 million in direct income for the state: €35.3 million in labour taxes, €19.5 million in dividend tax and €2.8 million in state fees. Since its launch, more than 144,000 people from 187 countries have become e-residents, founding or co-founding over 44,000 Estonian companies.
Research desk, Online
Stories by the IQGov research desk are written from public documents, official data and on-record statements, which are listed and linked at the end of each piece.
