Can you tell us how many woman-owned businesses there are in the world? And any extra stats - how many people they employ and how much revenue they generate.

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Can you tell us how many woman-owned businesses there are in the world? And any extra stats - how many people they employ and how much revenue they generate.

While there is no pre-existing information to fully answer your question, we've used the available data to pull together key findings. There are approximately 274 million women-owned businesses globally. It is estimated that by 2025, gender parity could contribute $28 trillion to the annual global GDP.

Below is an outline of our research methodology, which provides a clearer picture as to why were unable to find publicly available information on how many people women-owned businesses employ around the world and how much revenue these businesses generate.

METHODOLOGY

We conducted x-ray searches for global industry reports on women-owned businesses by companies such as McKinsey and Ernst & Young to name a few. This method did not provide any recent information specific to the question at hand. We also searched through inter-governmental databases such as The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and The World Bank for additional data and information on the subject matter. Once again, we came up short. As a result, we were only able to produce information on how many women-owned businesses there are in the world. However, additional information such as the number of people these businesses employ and the revenue generated has proved quite difficult to come by.

HELPFUL FINDINGS

NUMBER OF WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES

According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, global female entrepreneurship increased by 10% in the past year. This increase is reflected by 163 million women, in 74 countries who started businesses in 2016. An additional 111 million women were already operating businesses within the same year. Based on this information, the total number of women-owned businesses is approximately 274 million, on a global scale.

The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2017 report analyzes 54 countries based on a number of criteria, one of which ranks each country based on the representation of women-owned businesses as a percentage of total business owners. The top ten countries based on this criteria are:

1. Uganda, 34.8% of total business owners are women;
2. Botswana, 34.6% of total business owners are women;
3. New Zealand, 33.3% of total business owners are women;
4. Russia, 32.6% of total business owners are women;
5. Australia, 32.4% of total business owners are women;
6. Bangladesh, 31.6% of total business owners are women;
7. Vietnam, 31.4% of total business owners are women;
8. China, 30.9%of total business owners are women;
9. Spain, 30.8% of total business owners are women; and
10. The United States, 30.7% of total business owners are women.
NUMBER OF PEOPLE EMPLOYED BY WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES

ACG Inc.'s, "2015 Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard", provides some telling statics about the level of support for women entrepreneurs among 31 countries counties around the world. While the source dates back to 2015, the information presented provides a good understanding of the countries that facilitate a conducive environment for female entrepreneurs to thrive. According to ACG Inc, "[i]f women started growth-oriented businesses at the same rate as men," by 2017, millions of jobs would be created. Based on this premise, the estimated number of jobs that could be created are:

• 74.4 million more jobs in China;
15 million more jobs in the United States;
8.7 million more jobs in Turkey;
5.8 million more jobs in Brazil;
3.3 million more jobs in Germany;
2 million more jobs in Chile;
2 million more jobs in Ghana;
1.9 million more jobs in France;
1.8 million more jobs in South Korea;
• Approximately 500,000 more jobs in Spain; and
160,000 more jobs in Jamaica.

In 2015 woman-owned businesses contributed £3.51 billion to the United Kingdom's economy, which contributed to 77,000 jobs. In India, 8.05 million (14%) of businesses are woman-owned and they employ 13.48 million people.


IMPACT OF WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

According to the McKinsey Global Institute, "[a]dvancing women's equality can add can ad $12 trillion to global growth." McKinsey estimates that by 2025, gender parity could generate an additional $28 trillion in global annual GDP.

Conclusion

Despite the limited information regarding extra statistics on the number of people employed by women-owned businesses around the world and the revenue they generate, we have found that women-owned businesses have the potential to generate trillions of US dollars in additional global annual GDP. These businesses also have the potential creating millions of jobs globally.



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