Spain

Region: Europe and North America
 

Classification of economies by geographic region is based on that of the United Nations Statistics Division.

High Income
 

Based on the income levels set out by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its Global Competitiveness Report. However, the groupings are slightly different due to the numbers of economies covered. For GEM, the low income group contains both those classified as low income and lower middle by WEF, and the middle income group has those that WEF groups as upper middle. High income is the same for both GEM and WEF.

Population: 46.7 million (2018)
 

Population data is from the World Bank, except Palestinian Territories World Population Review and Taiwan Worldometers

GDP Growth: 2.5% (2018)
 

GDP growth data is from the World Economic Outlook Database, except Palestinian Territories Worldometers

GDP Per Capita: $28,378 (2017)
 

GDP per capita data is from the World Economic Outlook Database, except Palestinian Territories Worldometers

Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Attitudes

Most recent data: 2024
  • Spain 2024
  • Spain 2023
  • Global Average
  • Regional Average
  • Income Level Average

Self-Perceptions

  • 1
     
    Perceived Opportunities Rate:Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who see good opportunities to start a firm in the area where they live
  • 2
     
    Perceived Capabilities Rate:Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who believe they have the required skills and knowledge to start a business
  • 3
     
    Fear of Failure Rate*:Percentage of the 18–64 population who agree that they see good opportunities but would not start a business for fear it might fail. NOTE: this is a percentage of those seeing good opportunities, and not the total adult population
  • 4
     
    Entrepreneurial Intentions Rate:Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who are latent entrepreneurs and who intend to start a business within three years
  • 1. Perceived Opportunities Rate
  • 2. Perceived Capabilities Rate
  • 3. Fear of Failure Rate*
  • 4. Entrepreneurial Intentations Rate:

Activity

  • 1
     
    Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA):Percentage of 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a new business
  • 2
     
    Established Business Ownership Rate:Percentage of 18-64 population who are currently an owner-manager of an established business, i.e., owning and managing a running business that has paid salaries, wages, or any other payments to the owners for more than 42 months
  • 3
     
    Entrepreneurial Employee Activity Rate:Rate of involvement of employees in entrepreneurial activities, such as developing or launching new goods or services, or setting up a new business unit, a new establishment or subsidiary
  • 1. Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA)
  • 2. Established Business Ownership Rate
  • 3. Entrepreneurial Employee Activity Rate

Motivations

  • 1
     
    Motivational Index:Percentage of those involved in TEA that are improvement-driven opportunity motivated, divided by the percentage of TEA that is necessity-motivated
  • 1. Motivational Index

Gender Equity

  • 1
     
    Female/Male TEA Ratio:Percentage of female 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a 'new business', divided by the equivalent percentage for their male counterparts
  • 2
     
    Female/Male Opportunity-Driven TEA Ratio:Percentage of those females involved in TEA who (i) claim to be driven by opportunity as opposed to finding no other option for work; and (ii) who indicate the main driver for being involved in this opportunity is being independent or increasing their income, rather than just maintaining their income, divided by the equivalent percentage for their male counterparts
  • 1. Female/Male TEA Ratio
  • 2. Female/Male Opportunity-Driven TEA Ratio

Impact

  • 1
     
    High Job Creation Expectation Rate:Percentage of those involved in TEA who expect to create 6 or more jobs in 5 years
  • 2
     
    Innovation Rate:Percentage of those involved in TEA who indicate that their product or service is new to at least some customers AND that few/no businesses offer the same product
  • 3
     
    Business Services Sector Rate:Percentage of those involved in TEA in the 'Business Services' sector - Information and Communication, Financial Intermediation and Real Estate, Professional Services or Administrative Services, as defined by the ISIC 4.0 Business Type Codebook
  • 1. High Job Creation Expectation Rate
  • 2. Innovation Rate
  • 3. Business Services Sector Rate

Societal Values

  • 1
     
    High Status to Successful Entrepreneurs Rate:Percentage of 18-64 population who agree with the statement that in their country, successful entrepreneurs receive high status
  • 2
     
    Entrepreneurship as a Good Career Choice Rate:Percentage of 18-64 population who agree with the statement that in their country, most people consider starting a business as a desirable career choice
  • 1. High Status to Successful Entrepreneurs Rate
  • 2. Entrepreneurship as a Good Career Choice Rate

Entrepreneurial Framework Conditions

Most recent data: 2024

Expert Ratings: 1 = highly insufficient, 5 = highly sufficient

  • Spain 2024
  • Spain 2023
  • Regional Average
  • Income Level Average
  • Global Average
  • Spain 2024
  • Spain 2023
  • Regional Average
  • Income Level Average
  • Global Average

2023 POLICY ROADMAP

The Spanish economy is expected to grow over 2% in 2023, and is continuing to create new jobs and reduce the number of temporary employees. Inflation in September 2023 stood at 3.5%, one of the lowest levels in the European Union.

In 2022, Spanish Startup Law 28/2022 aimed to create a more favourable regulatory framework
and thereby boost emerging and innovative businesses, although there are still some continuing entrepreneurial perceptions of instability in Spain. In 2023, Spain’s government expanded the application of the Startup Law.

2023 Framework Conditions Review1

In 2021, Spain had a National Entrepreneurial Context Index (NECI) score of 5.4, placing it 10th of the 50 economies participating in GEM that year. In 2022, this score fell to 4.0, and in 2023 fell further to 3.8, much less than sufficient, and placing Spain 44th of the 49 economies evaluated.

Despite a lower average perception of the quality of the national Entrepreneurial Framework Conditions (EFCs), in 2023 national experts improved their evaluation of Government Entrepreneurial Programs, Research and Development Transfers, and Government Policy: Support and Relevance for entrepreneurs in Spain. However, these improvements were more than offset by declines in eight other framework conditions, with just one assessed as sufficient in 2023 (Physical Infrastructure), compared to three the year before.

2023 Entrepreneurial Activity Review

The percentage of adults starting or running a new business in Spain has increased slowly over the previous three years, reaching 6.8% in 2023 compared to 6.0% in 2022. Men were more likely than women to start a business, although the difference was small. Established Business Ownership was more or less the same rate as for those starting or running a new business, implying that Spain had one adult starting a new business for each adult owning an established one.

The proportion of adults reporting that their household income had fallen in 2023 was just one in three, having declined slowly each year from two in five in 2020.

Almost one in two adults in Spain know someone who had recently started their own business, with just over one in two considering themselves to have the skills and experience to start their own. The proportion seeing good opportunities to start a business locally was lower at three in 10, and of these one in two adults would not start a business for fear it might fail. Just one in 10 of those not already doing so intend to start a business in the next three years.

Earning a living because jobs are scarce was the most agreed motivation among new entrepreneurs, at nearly three out of five, although the relevance of this motivation compared with others has decreased considerably in 2023. Those starting or running a new business were relatively international in outlook, with more than one in three having customers beyond Spain. Just about one in two expected to use more digital technology in the next six months, while job creation expectations were fairly low, with only one
in 10 new entrepreneurs expecting to employ at least another six people over the next five years.

1 A brief description of the GEM approach is given in the footnote on p. 107 of the GEM Global Report.

Spain Reports

Name
Report information
pdf
  • Year of publication: 2025
  • Category: National Reports
  • Language: Spanish
  • Upload date: 2025-07-02

  • Entrepreneurial activity in Spain has grown for four consecutive years, even as entrepreneurial intention remains stagnant, according to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Spain National Report. In 2024, the percentage of people intending to start a business remained at 11.2%, the same as the previous year. Meanwhile, the share of those leading early-stage businesses (less than 3.5 years old) increased slightly from 6.8% in 2023 to 7.2% in 2024. The proportion of those running established businesses (more than 3.5 years old) also rose from 6.7% to 6.8%. On the other hand, the rate of entrepreneurs exiting their ventures - either through closure or transfer - rose from 3.2% to 3.5%. However, one-third of these ventures did not shut down but continued under new ownership.
  • URL: https://gemconsortium.org/report/51670
 GEM Spain 2024/2025 National Report
Report information
pdf
  • Year of publication: 2024
  • Category: National Reports
  • Language: Spanish
  • Upload date: 2024-05-31

  • Spain has experienced three consecutive years of Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) growth with 13.5% of the adult population engaged in starting or consolidating a new business in 2023. (TEA refers to the percentage of 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a new business). However, the percentage of those abandoning their entrepreneurial initiatives has also risen from 2.5% in 2022 to 3.2% in 2023. These were among the findings from the latest GEM Spain National Report,
  • URL: https://gemconsortium.org/report/51408
 GEM Spain 2023/2024 National Report
Report information
pdf
  • Year of publication: 2023
  • Category: National Reports
  • Language: English
  • Upload date: 2023-05-31

  • The latest GEM Spain National report shows the state of innovative entrepreneurship in the country has made a comeback. With a sample covering 36,000 people aged between 18 and 64 throughout the country, the report presents a positive diagnosis of the recovery of Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) to pre-pandemic levels.

  • URL: https://gemconsortium.org/report/51175
 GEM Spain 2022/2023 National Report
Report information
pdf
GEM Spain National Report 2021/2022
Report information
pdf
GEM Spain National Report 2020/2021
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