A report published by Statec on 22 November, found that male entrepreneurs who established businesses within the last 3.5 years accounted for 12.7% of all small or medium-sized business founders in 2018, compared to women, who made up 8.7%.

This was an improvement on 2017, when the proportion was 12.5% and 5.9% respectively.

The report found that over half of respondents agreed Luxembourg offered a “favourable environment to start a company.” Women entrepreneurs were most likely to be satisfied with their lives (65%) compared to men (60%).

Among the barriers to entrepreneurship are the fear of failure, which holds back 51% of would-be entrepreneurs. “This fear of failure is more pronounced in Luxembourg than in other European countries,” the report author wrote.