The Entrepreneurship subranking is based on an equally weighted average of scores from 10 country attributes that related to how entrepreneurial a country is: connected to the rest of the world, educated population, entrepreneurial, innovative, provides easy access to capital, skilled labor force, technological expertise, transparent business practices, well-developed infrastructure and well-developed legal framework. The Entrepreneurship subranking score had a 18% weight in the overall Best Countries ranking, the most of all nine categories.
Germany once again claims the No. 1 position, after a brief fall to the No. 2 spot in last year’s rankings. Berlin, the face of Germany’s start-up scene, is home to numerous entrepreneurial hubs that attract entrepreneurs from around the world and offer coworking spaces and community networking events. at the top of the list. The East Asian country has slowly recovered from a 2008 financial crisis, but a cultural aversion to risk and lack of funding for startups remain challenges.
Japan, the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland round out the top five countries that are seen as the most entrepreneurial. European, Pacific Rim and North American nations – all economies that have the resources to support new endeavors – dominate the top of the rankings.
The United Arab Emirates at No. 23 and Israel at No. 24 are the highest-ranked countries from the Middle East, while South Africa at No. 35 is the highest-ranked country from Africa.
Countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America dominate the bottom group of countries, with Bolivia ranking last. Though the country’s GDP has increased for more than a decade and its poverty rate has steadily dropped, its gross public debt increased significantly from 2014 to 2019, according to the World Bank. Rounding out the bottom five are Guatemala (No. 72), Kazakhstan (No. 71), Tunisia (No. 70) and Myanmar (No. 69).
