2025 POLICY ROADMAP

Access to international markets for Sweden’s new entrepreneurs looks to be declining. In 2024, 32% of Swedish entrepreneurs expected at least some revenue from abroad, while 20% anticipated more than a quarter of their income coming from international markets. The long-term trend indicates reduced international engagement.

The current government was elected on promises to tackle crime and ensure energy supply, and these have dominated its agenda. While these issues are indirectly important for the business climate, there have been no major, concrete policy changes in the past twelve months that directly target entrepreneurship.

2025 Framework Conditions Review

The National Entrepreneurial Context Index (NECI) reflects the overall quality of an entrepreneurial environment, as assessed by its own national experts. Sweden’s National NECI score for 2025 is 4.8, up from 4.5 in 2024. This improvement lifts Sweden to 22nd out of 53 GEM economies globally, up four places from the previous year. The rise in NECI reflects progress in several key areas, particularly infrastructure, finance, and education.

Of thirteen Framework Conditions, national experts rated five of Sweden’s as sufficient or better (i.e. score ≥ 5.0), up from four in 2024. These are Physical Infrastructure (7.0), Ease of Entry: Market Dynamics (5.5), Entrepreneurial Finance (5.3), Commercial and Professional Infrastructure (5.3), and Social and Cultural Norms (5.1). The remaining eight conditions are rated as insufficient, with particularly weaknesses in Government Policy: Support and Relevance (3.1), Entrepreneurial Education at School (4.1) and in Government Entrepreneurial Programmes (4.2). Compared to 2024, by far the biggest score increase was for Ease of Entry: Burdens and Regulations (from 3.2 to 4.4), although Physical Infrastructure also increases substantially (from 6.3 to 7.0). Three conditions had reduced scores, with the largest fall for Government Policy: Taxes and Bureaucracy (from 4.9 to 4.7).

After these changes, Sweden ranks in the top twenty globally (among the 53 GEM economies) for Entrepreneurial Finance (12th), for Entrepreneurial Education at School (15th) and for Physical Infrastructure (19th). Sweden has one framework condition just outside the bottom ten, Government Policy: Support and Relevance ranked 42nd.

New and growing businesses’ prioritisation of sustainability was rated by national experts at 7.1, down from 7.9 in 2024, yet still among the highest globally. Entrepreneurs’ awareness of the need to develop and implement AI solutions was scored at 7.4, up from 6.7 in 2024. This reflects growing recognition of digital transformation.

Sweden’s entrepreneurial environment in 2025 shows clear signs of improvement, with a higher NECI score and more framework conditions reaching sufficiency. Infrastructure, sustainability, and AI awareness are key strengths, while government policy and access to finance remain areas for development. Continued investment in digital capacity and inclusive policy reform will be essential to sustain this upward trajectory.

2025 Entrepreneurial Activity Review

Just one in four adults in Sweden report that their household income fell in 2025, a proportion that has been roughly the same for the past three years. Meanwhile, the percentage of adults expecting to start a new business in the next three years rose slightly to 11% in 2025.

About one in two adults know someone who has recently started a business, a proportion that is slightly higher than those who see themselves as having the skills and experience to start their own. However, two in three adults see good opportunities to start a business locally, although two in five of those would not do so for fear it might fail.

The proportion of adults in Sweden who are starting or running a new business in 2025 rose to one in ten, while those running an established business remained constant at one in twenty, implying two people starting a new business for every person running an established one. Men in Sweden are now more than twice as likely to be starting a business as women, as the gender gap widens.

“To build great wealth or high income” is the most agreed motivation for new entrepreneurs (nearly one in two), followed by “to make a difference in the world” (two in five). However, the proportion of entrepreneurs with customers beyond Sweden has fallen a little to just three in ten, having been well over one in three in 2024. Just one in three new entrepreneurs expect to use more digital technology in the next six months to sell their product, while only one in seven expects to employ more than another five people in five years’ time. Finally, two in five new entrepreneurs report taking actions to minimise their environmental impacts, a little more than those who say they have acted to maximise social impacts. A similar two in five claim to prioritise such impacts over profitability or growth.