2966 entrepreneurs from Narva were registered in the Business Register as of January 1 2011.

Only two enterprises registered in Narva are large (with the number of employees exceeding 250): AS Cargotec Estonia ja AS Eesti Energia Tehnoloogiatööstus. Another large company and employer is AS Eesti Energia Narva Elektrijaamad; however, as it is located outside the borders of the city, it is neither registered in Narva, nor statistically accounted for in the city reports.  

According to the classification adopted in Estonia and the EU, the structure of the currently functioning companies in Narva is as follows: 

Type of company	Number	%
Micro-companies (up to 9 employees)	1 118	37.7
Small companies (11 to 49 employees)	1 803	60,8
Medium-size companies (50 to 249 employees)	43	1,4
Large companies (over 250 employees)	2	0.1
Total	2966	100,0

The most common form of business organization is private limited companies, which are 1719 in number (56.6 % of all the registered companies and 57.6 % of all the companies registered in the Business Register).  Thus, private limited companies are the most popular form of business among the companies from Narva registered in the Business Register.

The second most popular form of business organization in Narva is entrepreneur-sole proprietor. As of 01.01.2011 the number of such entrepreneurs is 977 (32,1 % of all the registered companies and 32,8 % of all the companies registered in the Business Register)

The third most popular form of business—public limited companies—are 110 in number

(3,6% of all the registered companies and 2.6% of all the companies registtered in the Business Register). Since this form of entrepreneurship requires possession of starting capital in the amount of 25 000 euro at the time of registration, this form of business organization is typical for large enterprises.

More than 223 of out-of-town trade companies carry out their activities in Narva, including 108 companies from Tallinn, 15 from Tartu; 13 from Narva-Jõesuu, 9 from Kohtla-Järve, 10 from Jõhvi, 20 from Sillamäe; 6 from Rakvere.

On the whole, entrepreneurship is not one of those activities that are very popular with the residents of Narva.  There are 47 registered companies per a thousand inhabitants in Narva (as of 01.01.2011).

The low level of participation by local residents in entrepreneurship is considered as a positive factor in attracting outside investments, because it reflects the low competitiveness on the market and some free niches for new businesses. 

 As the research carried out in 2009 on the entrepreneurship situation in Narva revealed, over 33% of the businesses are trading companies and only 11% of Narva companies are industrial enterprises.

 According to the Narva Department of Economy and Development, more and more companies choose services as the area of their business activities. 

Area of activity	Active entries	Deleted entries	Total	Active entrepreneurs
Trade	1443	2301	3745	1079
Retail trade	829	1455	2284	628
Wholesale trade	126	88	214	122
Catering	88	180	268	59
Services	392	526	919	361
Trade organisation	8	52	60	4
Tourism	7	5	12	7
Accommodation	7	5	12	7
Total	1450	2306	3756	1081

According to the data of the Register of Economic Activities as of 01.01.2011