There continues to be significant gender gaps in entrepreneurship, including in terms of the numbers of start-ups, their economic impact and the ability of women entrepreneurs to access resources. While some progress has been made, economies are losing innovation and jobs due to these gaps. This chapter presents data on trends in women’s entrepreneurship and self-employment across European Union Member States and OECD countries, including activity rates, characteristics and barriers. It also provides an overview of policy approaches and recent policy developments.

The proportion of immigrants who are self-employed varies greatly across countries but overall, the number of immigrant entrepreneurs is increasing. In addition, a growing amount of evidence shows that immigrant entrepreneurs starting impactful businesses. This chapter presents comparable self-employment indicators for immigrant entrepreneurs and the self-employed across European Union Member States and OECD countries, as well as country-specific research on immigrant entrepreneurship.

Youth have long indicated a high level of interest in starting a business but this entrepreneurial ambition does not always translate into business creation or working as self-employed. Despite increased support and investment in youth entrepreneurship, youth continue to face barriers in entrepreneurship, including a lack of entrepreneurship skills, limitations in building networks and difficulties accessing finance. This chapter presents data on entrepreneurship and self-employment activities by youth across European Union Member States and OECD countries.

There is a growing population of healthy older people with the skills, financial resources and time available to contribute to economic activity through extending their working lives, including through entrepreneurship. While seniors are active in self-employment and the proportion of working seniors who are self-employed increases with age, seniors are not very active in creating new businesses. This chapter presents data on business creation and self-employment by seniors across European Union Member States and OECD countries, including on barriers faced. It also highlights recent policy developments and makes recommendations for how policies and programmes that support older entrepreneurs could be strengthened.

Governments have long-supported business creation schemes for the unemployed as a route back to quality work. While unemployment has returned to pre-COVID levels overall, some groups continue to experience difficulties in securing quality work. This chapter presents data on the proportion of unemployed people who seek to return to work through self-employment, as well as the proportion that are successful at transitioning from unemployment to self-employment. Data on the unemployed are presented at both the European Union (EU) and EU Member State levels. Selected OECD countries are covered to the extent possible.

Nearly one-in-five people in OECD and European Union countries live with some form of disability and about one-in-seven people with a disability who are working are self-employed. People with disabilities tend to face greater barriers in business start-up and development due to lower levels of education, less work experience, low self-esteem and negative social attitudes. Addressing the barriers to entrepreneurship for people with disabilities can offer a route into the labour market for more people. This chapter presents data on entrepreneurship and self-employment activities by people with disabilities across European Union Member States and OECD countries.