General

The New Entrepreneurship International (GEM) dataset contains annual harmonized data on early-stage entrepreneurial activity for 78 countries since 2001. The abbreviation GEM stands for Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and is the common name for this international survey. In addition, various indices measuring attitudes and preferences towards entrepreneurship are provided. The online database contains some of the principle outcomes of the global study, also expressed in the annual GEM Global Report. Besides these data, EIM disposes of an extended set of variables suited for benchmarking entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial framework conditions. The micro data, on which the global assessments are based, are disseminated in EIM's Datalab.

Sources

The GEM Adult Population Survey provides micro level data. Representative samples of at least 2,000 individuals in the adult population are annually drawn for every country.
The GEM Master dataset contains macro-level data and enables to benchmark the counries participating in GEM on various measures of entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial framework conditions. These macro-level data are derived from the following sources:
The GEM adult population surveys of the participating countries (aggregates are derived from the individual data)
Completed questionnaires by key-informants in the field of entrepreneurship, for all countries
Global Competitiveness Report
The Worldbank
OECD
IMF
International Labor Organization
Venture Capital Associations
US Census

Variable(s)

Measures of entrepreneurial activity, available in the online database (derived from the Adult Population Surveys).

total entrepreneurial activity index
necessity entrepreneurial activity index
opportunity entrepreneurial activity index
male total entrepreneurial activity index
female Total Entrepreneurial Activity Index
nascent Entrepreneurial Activity Index
young Firm Entrepreneurial Activity Index
etablished Businesses Activity Index
future Entrepreneur Index
know Entrepreneur Index
potential Entrepreneur Index
fear of Failure Index
informal Investors Index

Variable Description(s)

Descriptions of the online database are the following:

Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) Index: Measures the number of people currently setting up a business or owning/managing a business existing up to 3,5 years; relative to the adult population 18-64 years.
Necessity Entrepreneurial Activity Index: Measures the number of people involved in entrepreneurial activity (TEA) out of necessity; relative to the adult population 18-64 years.
Opportunity Entrepreneurial Activity Index: Measures the number of people involved in entrepreneurial activity (TEA) out of opportunity; relative to the adult population 18-64 years.
Male Total Entrepreneurial Activity Index: Measures the number of men involved in entrepreneurial activity (TEA); relative to the male adult population 18-64 years.
Female Total Entrepreneurial Activity Index: Measures the number of women involved in entrepreneurial activity (TEA); relative to the female adult population 18-64 years.
Nascent Entrepreneurial Activity Index: Measures the number of people currently setting up a business ; relative to the adult population 18-64 years.
Young Firm Entrepreneurial Activity Index: Measures the number of people people owning/managing a business that exists up to 3,5 years; relative to the adult population 18-64 years.
Etablished Businesses Activity Index: Measures the number of people owning/managing a business that exists over 3,5 years; relative to the adult population 18-64 years.
Future Entrepreneur Index: Share of people (in adult population 18-64 years) expecting to start a business within three years.
Know Entrepreneur Index: Share of people (in adult population 18-64 years) that personally know someone who started a business in the past two years.
Potential Entrepreneur Index: Share of people (in adult population 18-64 years) indicating to have the required skills and knowledge for setting up a business themselves.
Fear of Failure Index: Share of people (in adult population 18-64 years) that would abstain from setting up a business when they would sense a fear of failure.
Informal Investors Index: Measures the number of people investing own money to start-ups; relative to the population of 18 years and older.

Dimensions

Statistical Classification of the Economic Activity
The variables in the master dataset are at the macro (country-wide) level. However, sectors CAN be distinguished on requests.

Size class information.
The dataset has no size-class distribution.

Data Overview

OECD countries

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece*, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea**, Mexico**, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland**, Portugal**, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Non-OECD countries

Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Brazil**, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile**, China**, China Shenzhen, Chinese Taipeh (Taiwan)**, Columbia, Croatia, Dominican republic, Ecuador**, Egypt, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India**, Iran, Israel, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazachstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Morocco, Macedonia, Malasia, Panama, Peru **, Puerto Rico, Philippinnes, Romania, Russia**, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Singapore, Slovenia, Syria, Tunesia, Thailand**, Tonga, Uganda*, Uruguay, the United Arabic Emirates, Venezuela*, West Bank & Gaza Strip and Yemen.

*    Not involved in GEM 2002
**  Not involved in GEM 2003
For 2005 there are no data for Russia, Poland, Korea, Peru, Uganda, India, Portugal, Ecuador, Hongkong, Cinese Taipei, Jordan, and Israel.
For 2006 there are no data for Switzerland, Austria, Poland, New Zealand, Korea, Uganda, Portugal, Ecuador, Venezuela, Hongkong, Cinese Taipei, Jordan, and Israel.
For 2007 there are no data for South Afrika, Poland, Germany, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, Korea, Canada, Uganda, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Chinese Taipei and Jordan.
For 2008 there are no data for Switserland, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Malysia, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, China, Canada, Uganda, Portugal, Chec republic, Kazakstan, Puerto Rico, Hongkong, Chinese Taipeh, Jordan and the United Arab Emirats.
For 2009 there are no data for Austria, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Sealand, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, India, Canada, Angola, Portugal, Ireland, Macedonia, Czech Republic, Bolivia, Kazahkstan, Puerto Rico and Chinese taipeh,

For some countries, supporting data (external sources) are not available in the Master Dataset.

Adult Population Survey
Variables in the adult population questions are directly linked to the questionnaire. Questions 1-5 in table 1 select those people involved in entrepreneurial activities. Additional screening questions are then used to identify nascent entrepreneur and owners of young businesses. Besides the questions in table 1 , standard characteristics about age, gender, education, main occupation, household income were asked.

The ten central GEM questions for all adults surveyed

Questions for people involved in entrepreneurial activity.

A. Questions for all countries participating in GEM.
The questions below help identifying people involved in nascent entrepreneurship and owners  of young businesses (see figure 1). Additionally, basic characteristics of the (prospected businesses) are derived. Below we show the questions for nascent entrepreneurs. Questions for owners-managers of young business are appropriately adjusted.

Over the past twelve months have you done anything to help start a new business, such as looking for equipment or a location, organizing a start-up team, working on a business plan, beginning to save money, or any other activity that would help launch a business? 
Will you personally own all, part, or none of this business?
How many people, including yourself, will both own and manage this new business?
Has the new business paid any salaries, wages, or payments in kind, including your own, for more than three months? 
What was the first year the owners received wages, profits, or payments in kind?
What kind of business is this? 
Will all, some, or none of your potential customers consider this product or service new and unfamiliar?
Right now, are there many, few, or no other businesses offering the same products or services to your potential customers? 
Were the technologies or procedures required for this product or service generally available more than a year ago?
What proportion of your customers normally live outside your country? Is it more than 90%, more than 75%, more than 50%, more than 25%, or 25% or less? 
Right now how many people, not counting the owners but including exclusive subcontractors, are working for this business? By exclusive subcontractors, we mean only people or firms working ONLY for this business, and not working for others as well.
How many people will be working for this business, not counting the owners but including all exclusive subcontractors, when it is five years old? By exclusive subcontractors, we mean only people or firms working ONLY for this business, and not working for others as well. 
Are you involved in this start-up to take advantage of a business opportunity or because you have no better choices for work? 
How much money, in total, will be required to start this new business? 
How much of your own money, in total, do you expect to provide to this new business? 
The questions for informal investors are the following:
Approximately how much, in total, have you personally provided to these business start-ups in the past three years, not counting any investments in publicly traded stocks or mutual funds?
Considering only the most recent personal investment in a business start-up, what kind of business were you investing in?
What was your relationship with the person that received your most recent personal investment?

B. Additional questions for the Netherlands

The questions below were added for the Netherlands. Purposes of posing these questions were to learn more about preparation time, motives and bottlenecks. In addition, in 2003 a number of questions were added about the characteristics of internationalisation as that was the special topic for GEM 2003 in the Netherlands. In 2004 a number of questions for the Netherlands were added concerning business succession and informal investments.
How much time did it take to set-up the business (up till now)?
How much hours did you, in an average week spend on preparing the start-up (up till now)?
Which motives were most important for you to start an own business?
What statement suits best to you? “I want my business to become as big as possible”; or “I want to be able to run the business on my own, with a restricted number of employees”. 
Which were the most important bottlenecks you experienced in setting up the business?

Master Dataset

Measures of entrepreneurial activity, available in the online database (derived from the Adult Population Surveys).

total entrepreneurial activity index
necessity entrepreneurial activity index
opportunity entrepreneurial activity index
growth potential entrepreneurial activity index
male total entrepreneurial activity index
female Total Entrepreneurial Activity Index
nascent Entrepreneurial Activity Index
young Firm Entrepreneurial Activity Index
etablished Businesses Activity Index
business angel index
future Entrepreneur Index
know Entrepreneur Index
potential Entrepreneur Index
fear of Failure Index
informal Investors Index

Entrepreneurial framework conditions assessed by key-informants:
Financial support,
Government policies,
Government programs,
Education and training,
R&D transfer,
Commercial and professional infrastructure,
Internal market openness,
Access to physical infrastructure,
Attitudes, and cultural and social norms. 

Other:
Venture Capital
Economic Growth
Competitiveness
Regulatory indices
Demography
Education
ICT
Gender specific variables

General additional information

Fore more information see http://www.gemconsortium.org/

Follow-up questions for the Netherlands

In March 2004, a follow-up was held among the individuals that were involved in entrepreneurial activity in 2002 and 2003. Furthermore, in November 2004 a follow-up was held among individuals that were involved in entrepreneurial activity in June 2004. The follow-up included the following questions. Below we show the questions for nascent entrepreneurs. Questions for owners-managers of young business are appropriately adjusted. Table I describes the processing details of the follow-up.

How would you describe the current status of your business? Have you started the business, are you still trying, have you temporarily quit your business or have you completely quit your business?

If the respondent started the business:
When did the start take place?
Which event was, according to your opinion, the actual start of the business?
Are you still the owner-manager of this business?
Have you started the same business as expected from the beginning?
Did you start fulltime or part-time with your business?
Which were the most important problems in setting up your business?
Looking back, was it easier than expected or more difficult to set up your business?
How many people are working in your business right now?
And how many people will be working for this business two years from know?
How many years of experience do you have in your sector?
Would you prefer running (i) a large business, or (ii) a small-scaled business?

If the respondent (temporarily) quit the business:
What are the most important causes?
What would have prevented you from quitting?
What are, to your opinion, the chances of getting the business started after all?
Are currently you trying to set up another business?
Do you expect to set up a new business in the near future?

Table I  Processing details of follow-up questionnaire conducted in March 2004,for the people involved in entrepreneurial activity in 2002 and 2003, and in November 2004 for the people involved in entrepreneurial activity in June 2004