Foreword

The collection of entrepreneurship indicators presented in Entrepreneurship at a Glance is the result of the OECD-Eurostat Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme (EIP). The programme, started in 2006, was the first attempt to compile and publish international data on entrepreneurship from official government statistical sources. From the outset a key feature in the development of these indicators has been to minimise compilation costs for national statistical offices, which is why the programme focuses attention on exploiting existing sources of data.

Informing policy design through the development of policy-relevant indicators is at the core of the EIP programme, and much attention is paid to responding to information needs, including the need for timely information on the situation of small businesses. To that purpose, Entrepreneurship at a Glance features an opening chapter on recent trends in entrepreneurship, discussing the evolution of enterprise creations, bankruptcies and self-employment.

This edition was prepared in the Trade and Competitiveness Division of the OECD Statistics Directorate by Liliana Suchodolska, Gueram Sargsyan, Belén Zinni and Frédéric Parrot. Nadim Ahmad and Mariarosa Lunati provided overall guidance and edited the publication.

Particular thanks go to Eurostat and to experts in National Statistical Offices from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States; and to Cornelius Mueller from Invest Europe, Darrell Pinto from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, Maryam Haque from the National America Venture Capital Association of the United States and Kyle Stanford from PitchBook for help and advice on equity capital statistics.