Entrepreneurship in uncertain times

The GEM survey was conducted in 48 countries in 2025. 2,000 Norwegians answered questions about starting their own business. Norway has a greater need for economic transformation than most other countries, as oil revenues will need to be replaced.

'Given our significant need for transformation, “good enough” is not enough,' says Håkon Haugli, our CEO.

Nord University Business School conducted the survey on our behalf. At the launch, the researchers noted that 'the quality of entrepreneurial ecosystems in many countries declines during challenging economic times. Norway is no exception: GEM shows that Norway no longer provides sufficiently supportive conditions for entrepreneurship, with particularly significant challenges in access to finance, entrepreneurship education and the regulatory framework.'

Three negative trends for Norway 

• Only 9 per cent of Norwegians are early-stage entrepreneurs. This puts Norway 19th among 25 high-income countries – far behind countries such as Canada, where around three in ten people are entrepreneurs. Poland and Qatar rank lowest, with 3 and 2 per cent respectively engaged in entrepreneurship.
• In Norway, almost 70 per cent of respondents agree that starting a business is easy, but only one in ten intends to start a business within the next three years.
• In four countries, very few women start businesses compared with men: Egypt, Sweden, Finland and Norway.

Three positive trends for Norway 

However, the picture is not entirely negative. Turbulent times also create opportunities for entrepreneurship – and, importantly, a need for it.

• Norway has a higher proportion of young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 24. The proportion of young entrepreneurs increased from 1 per cent in 2023 to 8 per cent in 2024 and 9 per cent in 2025.
• The figures suggest a slight increase in the proportion of people starting their own business. Before the pandemic, around 7 per cent of the population said they were early-stage entrepreneurs, compared with around 9 per cent today.
• The proportion of Norwegians who own an established business (more than three and a half years old) has increased from 4% to 7% of the population. More people also say they know someone who has started a business.

National experts 

The results above come from a population survey conducted in each participating country. In addition, Nord University Business School interviewed 36 ‘entrepreneurship experts’ in Norway. The Norwegian experts believe that Norwegian start-ups are good at prioritising sustainability, have a strong awareness of artificial intelligence and have good access to public entrepreneurship programmes. However, they rate entrepreneurship education in schools poorly. This type of education could raise awareness of starting a business as a career option, which is important in countries with few visible entrepreneurial role models.

The expert panel also reports that Norwegian entrepreneurs lack access to venture capital.

'If entrepreneurs do not have access to venture capital, it is not just a problem for them, but for all of us. Growing start-ups are crucial to economic transformation, innovation, productivity and exports – and, not least, to the government's future revenue base,' says Haugli.