Countries with the lowest entrepreneurship rates

These countries report the fewest new business registrations per capita. Low density can reflect a large informal economy or heavier barriers to formal registration.

#	Country	Region	New business density
1	Somalia, Fed. Rep.	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.02
2	Kiribati	East Asia & Pacific	0.03
3	Liberia	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.05
4	Bangladesh	South Asia	0.06
5	Haiti	Latin America & Caribbean	0.07
6	Bhutan	South Asia	0.07
7	Malawi	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.09
8	Central African Republic	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.10
9	Niger	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.10
10	Congo, Dem. Rep.	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.11
11	Iraq	Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	0.12
12	Madagascar	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.12
13	Chad	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.13
14	Tajikistan	Europe & Central Asia	0.15
15	West Bank and Gaza	Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	0.17
16	Tanzania	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.17
17	India	South Asia	0.18
18	Pakistan	Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	0.20
19	Marshall Islands	East Asia & Pacific	0.20
20	Afghanistan	Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	0.22
21	Mozambique	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.25
22	Mali	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.25
23	Egypt, Arab Rep.	Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan	0.26
24	South Sudan	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.30
25	Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	East Asia & Pacific	0.37
26	Honduras	Latin America & Caribbean	0.37
27	Myanmar	East Asia & Pacific	0.39
28	Congo, Rep.	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.40
29	Cambodia	East Asia & Pacific	0.45
30	Guinea-Bissau	Sub-Saharan Africa	0.47

New limited-liability company registrations per 1,000 people ages 15 to 64 in a given year. The headline measure of how actively people start formal businesses. Ranked on the most recent year each country reports. Updated 01 July 2026.