Catalonia registers historical maximums in entrepreneurship

BarcelonaCatalonia maintains its status as a benchmark for entrepreneurship within the Spanish state. This is revealed by data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, which shows that entrepreneurial activity in the country broke its historical ceiling in 2025. According to the study, the Catalan Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate last year stood at 9.7%, an increase of 1.1% year-on-year and the highest value in the historical series, which began in 2004. Furthermore, it shows that the gender gap in the entrepreneurial world is practically closed.

This rate, which measures the percentage of the adult population involved in creating businesses up to 3.5 years old, raises the number of entrepreneurs in Catalonia to over 492,000 people. The Catalan figure sits well above the state average, which remains at 7.8%; and brushes against that of high-income European economies, which stands at 9.8%. Only the Community of Madrid exceeds the Catalan rate (slightly, with 9.8% of the entrepreneurial population). Even so, Barcelona and its province leave the Spanish capital behind, with a 10.7% proportion of entrepreneurs.

The gender gap, on the decline

Beyond the prominent territorial dominance in Catalonia, the report highlights a flattering piece of data: gender differences in terms of entrepreneurial activity are practically imperceptible. According to the GEM, the rate of entrepreneurial activity among Catalan women is 9.6%, practically the same as the general rate. In the case of Barcelona, it reaches 10.4%, well above the Spanish figure (7.2%), and even above the data for high-income European economies (7.9%).

However, the document warns that differences persist regarding the capacity to keep a business alive beyond the initial stages: "Although the participation of men and women is practically balanced in the initial stages, the male presence continues to be higher among established businesses". This dysfunction, asserts the Monitor, "suggests the existence of barriers that continue to condition the growth and permanence of projects led by women".

A "new phase of development"

The good figures for 2025 denote, the GEM indicates, that the Catalan entrepreneurial fabric has entered "a new phase of development." The growth of new business initiatives, as well as the "greater orientation towards opportunity entrepreneurship" – to the detriment of necessity entrepreneurship, which is receding – shown by new entrepreneurs, implies redirecting Catalan priorities. In this sense, the most urgent challenge is, as Catalan business associations have been warning for some time, that of scale: "The main challenge no longer consists solely of increasing the number of business initiatives, but of strengthening their capacity to grow, innovate, internationalize, and generate more added value," the document asserts.

In this way, the study calls for improving conditions for the entrepreneurial environment. Among the priorities, it places facilitating access to financing or specialized talent, simplifying administrative procedures, or strengthening innovation and digitalization processes. "The challenge consists of favoring the consolidation of projects capable of generating added value, qualified employment, and sustainable competitive advantages," the document concludes.