An analysis of the household services market in Kazakhstan shows a sharp decline in services volume in 8 out of 15 categories. Official statistics record a drop in demand for barbershops, beauty salons, grooming, and other services, but experts link this to businesses going underground, reports infohub.kz.
In 2025, the volume of services at men's and children's barbershops reached only 6.3 billion tenge, 5.5 times less than in 2024. Such a significant drop is hard to explain solely by changing consumer habits.
Similar trends appear in other segments: the volume of matchmaking agency services dropped 195-fold, paid toilets halved, beauty salons fell 42.9%, and grooming salons fell 49-fold (from 4.1 billion to 83 million tenge).
The long-term dynamics of cosmetology services, manicures, and pedicures also raise questions: in 2025, the volume of these services was three times lower than in 2022, although it is unlikely that Kazakhs suddenly stopped consuming them.
Experts believe that some entrepreneurs have moved into the shadow economy. This is supported by the increase in the tax burden on individual entrepreneurs in 2025: the social contribution rate rose from 3.5% to 5%, mandatory pension contributions from 1.5% to 2.5%, leading to higher minimum mandatory payments.