A report from cross-border trade group InterTradeIreland shows that there are 324,000 entrepreneurs on the island of Ireland.
Entrepreneurship in Island of Ireland, published in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland, shows that 253,000 are based in the Republic and 71,000 in Northern Ireland. These figures include owner managers of existing companies and new entrepreneurs.
'These figures show a very high level of owner managed businesses on the island with 9% of the adult population involved,' said Dr Eileen McGloin of InterTradeIreland, one of the report's authors. She said this figure was one of the highest in the EU, and was close to the US figure of 10%.
But Dr McGloin pointed out that in the US new businesses were being created at a much faster rate and the number of businesses growing significantly was much higher.
