A new brief by Leora Klapper introduces the 2007 World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey, which measures entrepreneurial activity in 84 developing and industrial countries across the world between 2003 and 2005.

This survey allows greater cross-border comparability of data than a similar 2006 survey. The new data reveal a significant relationship between entrepreneurial activity and a host of other indicators, including economic and financial development and growth, the quality of the legal and regulatory environment and governance.

The entry rates of new firms (defined as newly registered firms as a percentage of total registered firms in the previous year) range between 7 and 9 percent among various regions. In contrast, business density (total firms as a share of working age population) varies far more widely—from over 6 percent in industrial countries to less than 1 percent in South and East Asia. 

Data are also available on electronic business registration, which is shown to be related to lower costs and a shorter number of days required to start a business. Case studies highlight the impact of regulatory, political, and tax changes on new firm registrations.  The new data raise questions about the effects of changes in the business environment on entrepreneurial risk taking, and about which reforms will spur faster firm registration.