Global Entrepreneurship Survey Confirms Continued Economic Optimism
Alexandria, Virginia, USA (21 September 2017) –
Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), the world’s leading peer-to-peer network of successful business leaders, announced today optimistic results from its latest semi-annual survey, the
Global Entrepreneur Indicator (GEI). During this survey period, nearly 82% of its respondents expressed a willingness to start a business in their current economic environment. The survey, designed to deliver data on job creation, profit outlook and access to capital, among other key metrics, is currently in its seventh consecutive year. This latest edition includes an analysis of responses from 4,593 EO member entrepreneurs across 51 countries.
Global GEI findings indicate that 66% of entrepreneurs reported an increase in revenue over the last six months. This is up 2% from the previous survey period in February. A further sign of the positive sentiment among entrepreneurs is that 79% anticipate the positive trend to continue over the next six months. Looking specifically at the USA, 70% of entrepreneurs reported an increase in revenue in the past six months as compared to 65% of the last survey period in February.
Responses gathered during the current survey period, 2-31 August, have shown that 77.9% of global respondents believe the current economic environment will improve or stay the same, compared to 75.3% of respondents in August 2016. Taking a deeper look into a few regional highlights:
- In Europe, despite some uncertainty around Brexit nearly one year ago, 90% of respondents believe the economy will either improve or stay the same, a steep increase from February’s response of 81%.
- From a global perspective, the five chapters who are most optimistic about their local economies reside in South Asia, with all five reporting that more than 80% of their respondents believe the economy will improve over the next six months.
Each of the entrepreneurs who participated in the GEI survey operate businesses with over US$1 million in revenue and a median annual revenue of US$4.7 million. Collectively, these entrepreneurs employ more than 2.86 million workers. When asked about hiring sentiments, 61% reported potential for increase in full-time jobs in the six months ahead. 56% also reported already having increased their full-time employees over the past six months, which is up 3% from the previous survey period.
For further information about the GEI survey and for more detailed global and regional reports, please visit the
Global Entrepreneur Indicator page.
