What Percentage of Women are Business Owners? (2024 Stats)

Girl boss.

This term had never made rounds until we started seeing businesswomen on TikTok, giving the world a glimpse of what their everyday lives look like. 

Nowadays, many women are choosing to build their own empires rather than becoming employees of other people’s businesses.

Exactly what percentage of women are business owners in 2024?

Let’s find out!

What Percentage of Women are Business Owners in 2024?

It is important to note it significantly varies per country. 

Some nations with better gender equality observance have a higher percentage of women’s representation in the business sector.

For example, in the United States, 42% of all businesses are owned by women.

However, this is not the case in societies that still consider women as second-rate genders. 

For example in a high-income economy like Austria, 54.4% of all the country’s sole proprietors are women.

Whereas in a country like Afghanistan, women sole proprietors only account for 2.8% of the total, leaving 97.2% to their male counterparts.

The latter is a clear manifestation of the wide disparity between genders in many countries across the world. 

What Percentage of Women are Business Owners in Low and High-income Countries?

What percentage of women are business owners in low-income economies?

First off, let’s set the record straight: not all low-income economies suffer from a low penetration rate of women in the business sector. 

A good example is Rwanda where a good percentage of 30.2% of the country’s overall business ownership is comprised of female participants.

This is in contrast with the high-income economy in Germany where only 15.3% of all business owners are women. 

Health of Business Ownership in Low-economies 

Below is a piece of information detailing what percentage of women are business owners in low-income economies. 

1. Afghanistan – only 2.0% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 98.0% of the entire sector
2. Nepal – only 10.3% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 89.7% of the entire sector
3. Algeria – only 6.9% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 93.4% of the entire sector
4. Tajikistan – only 7.8% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 92.2% of the entire sector
5. Mali – only 8.4% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 91.6% of the entire sector
6. Mauritania – only 10.9% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 89.1% of the entire sector
7. Guinea – only 14.2% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 85.8% of the entire sector
8. Azerbaijan – only 12.4% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 87.6% of the entire sector
9. Morocco – only 15.9% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 84.1% of the entire sector
10. Pakistan – only 14.0% of business owners in the country are women, while men make up 86.0% of the entire sector

Health of Business Ownership in High-income Economies

What does the health of business ownership look like between genders in high-income economies?

1. Taiwan – 36.3% of the country’s business owners are women
2. Latvia – 34.1% of the country’s business owners are women
3. Chile – 32.8% of the country’s business owners are women
4. Estonia – 29.8% of the country’s business owners are women
5. Slovenia – 26.9% of the country’s business owners are women
6. Brunei Darussalam – 24.9% of the country’s business owners are women
7. Norway – 24.4% of the country’s business owners are women
8. South Korea – 24.0% of the country’s business owners are women
9. Croatia – 23.4% of the country’s business owners are women
10. Greece – 22.3% of the country’s business owners are women

Women as Sole Proprietors

A sole proprietorship is a term used for businesses solely managed by an individual.

Globally, around one in three new sole proprietors are women.

Now you are wondering what percentage of women are business owners as sole proprietors in low-income economies?

How about in high-income economies?

Health of Sole Proprietorship in Low-income Economies

Take a look at this data from the World Bank showing countries with the lowest percentage of women as sole proprietors.

1. Afghanistan – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 2.8%, leaving the remaining 97.2% to their male counterparts
2. Algeria – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 6.6%, leaving the remaining 93.4% to their male counterparts
3. Nepal – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 13.8%, leaving the remaining 86.2% to their male counterparts
4. Mauritania – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 10.6%, leaving the remaining 89.4% to their male counterparts
5. Somalia – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 12.2%, leaving the remaining 87.8% to their male counterparts
6. Azerbaijan – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 12.4%, leaving the remaining 87.6% to their male counterparts
7. Jordan – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 17.8%, leaving the remaining 82.2% to their male counterparts
8. Togo – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 19.3%, leaving the remaining 80.7% to their male counterparts
9. Turkey – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 20.3%, leaving the remaining 79.7%to their male counterparts
10. Kosovo – the share of female sole proprietors in the country is only at 20.3%, leaving the remaining 79.7% to their male counterparts

Health of Sole Proprietorship in High-income Economies

Meanwhile, here is another piece of data from the same World Bank report showing countries with the highest percentage of women as sole proprietors.

1. Austria – 54.4% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
2. Estonia – 46.3% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
3. Sweden – 40.2% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
4. Netherlands – 39.6% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
5. France – 38.8% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
6. Slovenia – 38.1% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
7. Denmark – 37.6% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
8. Taiwan – 36.3% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
9. Malta – 36.2% of all sole proprietors in the country are women
10. Germany – 36.0% of all sole proprietors in the country are women

Conclusion

More often than not, the percentage of women owning a business is higher in high-income economies compared to their low-income counterparts.

But this does not always hold true. 

Some societies, especially matriarchal ones, enjoy a good balance between gender in terms of business ownership. 

Sources

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