The Municipal Data Office (OMD) has published the annual report “Entrepreneurship in Barcelona”, offering a vision of the profile of city entrepreneurs and noting a 2% increase in the number of women entrepreneurs compared to last year, rising to 42% in total.
This is the seventh year running that the Municipal Data Office (OMD) has published this report, which includes the main indicators for entrepreneurship in 2022.
The figures offer a complementary vision of the information published as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), an international source of statistics on entrepreneurship, but without data at a municipal level. According to the methodology of the GEM project, entrepreneurs are identified from the continuous sample of working histories, selecting self-employed women who start a business activity which includes a period of up to 42 months.
Notable indicators in the report include:
- In 2022, Barcelona had an estimated total of 40,875 entrepreneurs living in the city, nearly two thirds of the number for the metropolitan area (65%) and over a quarter of the total for Catalonia (26%).
- In 2022, the city had 17,175 women entrepreneurs and 23,700 men entrepreneurs.
- The volume of women entrepreneurs increased by two per cent in 2022 to reach 42%.
- In contrast, there was a significant drop in men entrepreneurs (–7.6%), compared to the record number reached in 2021.
- The index for entrepreneurial activity in the city, at 3.9%, has remained relatively stable in recent years and stands just 0.2% below the levels from 2021 and 2019.
- By age, the number of entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 39 (21,100 people) has stabilised in the city compared 2021 and represents 51.6% of the total, slightly above the number of people aged between 40 and 64 (19,775 people).
- Entrepreneurs in Barcelona in 2022 are still mainly of Spanish nationality: 22,850 people, representing 55.9% of the total. Even so, this percentage has dropped, while the figure for entrepreneurs with foreign nationalities has risen and now represents 44.1% of the total. The index for entrepreneurial activity among the foreign population (6%) is double the figure for people of Spanish nationality (3%).
- The services sector is still the main one for entrepreneurs living in the city, accounting for 89.2%.
- L’Eixample has the highest number of entrepreneurs (16.8%), consistent with the volume of the resident population, followed by Sant Martí (13.6%) and Sarrià – Sant Gervasi (10.5%). The most positive evolution was in Gràcia, with an increase in the number of entrepreneurs of 8.3% compared to 2021, followed by Ciutat Vella (+3.9%) and Les Corts (+1,3%).