"According to the just-released 2004 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor,
73 million people worldwide are entrepreneurs. That equates to roughly
9.3% adults, or one in eleven people, out of a total workforce of 784
million.

Many of the findings are similar to past reports, such as:

• Most
  entrepreneurs (65%) are opportunity-driven, versus 35% who start a
  business out of necessity due to lack of jobs. Opportunity-driven
  entrepreneurs are more prevalent in high-income countries like the
  United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland, etc.



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• Venture
  capital funding for new businesses is quite rare, with 99.9% of nascent
  businesses never receiving VC money or angel funding. We've talked
  about this topic many times before here on Small Business Trends. This
  year's report contains more detail than ever on the sources of funding.
  It further substantiates this important point: hunting for venture
  capital is a waste of time.

• The
  average capital needed to start a business is US$53,673. At first
  glance this number seemed high to me, but then this money would not be
  distributed all at once. Instead the money is likely to be doled out
  over time. Viewed in that light it seems realistic.


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• Many
  entrepreneurs are already employed as they develop their businesses. My
  friend annie, who is from Shanghai, tells me the Chinese have a name
  for this: "riding in the big boat while carrying the little boat on
  your back." Apparently this kind of new-business subsidy goes on far
  more than I would have guessed, with 91% of those in middle-income
  countries having jobs. In high-income countries the figure is 81% and
  in low-income countries it is 77%.