In December 2024, the Entrepreneurship Forum released its report "An Enterprising Sweden? Regional GEM Report 2024", which highlights the development of entrepreneurship in Sweden's regions. The report shows that Västernorrland has made an impressive journey up the entrepreneurship rankings, from previously being among the lower positions to now taking fourth place.
The report is based on data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and covers the period 2021-2023. GEM is one of the world's largest international research projects that annually measures and analyzes entrepreneurial activities, aspirations and attitudes.
Nearly doubling of entrepreneurial activity
One of the most prominent findings of the report is that entrepreneurial activity in Västernorrland has increased significantly. The share of the population engaged in early-stage entrepreneurship has risen from 4.2% in the period 2018-2020 to 8.7% between 2021 and 2023.
The county is also the best in Sweden in terms of how the population perceives the opportunities for entrepreneurship. Over 80 percent of the population in Västernorrland see good conditions for starting a business, which is higher than the national average of 75 percent.
The report shows that entrepreneurs in Västernorrland have high growth expectations. Almost 12 percent of early-stage entrepreneurs expect to hire at least 20 people within the next five years, placing the county at the top together with Jämtland.
Gender equality and entrepreneurship - a remaining challenge
Despite the positive developments, Västernorrland faces challenges in gender equality in entrepreneurship. Women's participation in entrepreneurship has increased, but they still make up only 20 percent of entrepreneurs in the region. This is far from the counties that are at the top with a more even distribution between genders. It is clear that more efforts are needed to support women to start and run businesses.
Read "An enterprising Sweden? Regional GEM Report 2024" at the Entrepreneurship Forum.
