Sweden stands out in global entrepreneurship survey

The annual report from Global Entreprenurship Monitor (GEM), the world’s foremost study of entrepreneurship, is launched today in Santiago, Chile. The entrepreneurial behaviour and attitudes of individuals, now in 49 countries, is measured and evaluated for the twentieth consecutive year.

The results for Sweden stands out in a number of ways. For example, three out of four Swedes think starting a business is easy. The Netherlands and Poland show similar results while the remainder of countries in the survey rank lower. Sweden rank the highest in the whole survey regarding entrepreneurial opportunities – 82 % of Swedes think the potential opportunity to start a business in their area is good.

This year’s survey confirms the image of Sweden as a country with significant entreprenurial opportunity. It should render possibilities for even higher levels of entreprenurship. Globally, we note that the gig economy is advancing even though it is too early to draw definite conclusions about the scope and robustness, says Pontus Braunerhjelm, Research Director Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum, Professor KTH and BTH and team  leader for the Swedish GEM Team.

Another area where Sweden is performing well is intrapreneurship, which is described as a european phenomenon. In Sweden, Germany and Cyprus intrapreneurship is as common as entrepreneurship through new business (TEA).

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor highlights two areas in particular: family business and the gig and sharing economy. It is shown that almost 20 % of business owners work together with family members. As for well-mentioned “giggers”, 6 % of all individuals in 27 countries form part of the so called gig or sharing economy. South Korea is ranked at the top, over 20 % of the adult population are freelancers or active participants in the sharing economy. Israel, Chile, USA and Ireland also ranks high with over 10 % of the adult population engaged in this part of the economy.

Download GEM 2018 / 2019 GLOBAL REPORT

Image: Alfonso Swett, Confederación de la Producción del Comercio, Daniel Undurraga, Cornershop, Vesna Mandakovic, Instituto de Emprendimiento, UDD, Caroline Echenique, Tika, and Hernán Cheyre, Instituto de Emprendimiento, UDD.