Share of female sole proprietors in Germany
Germany: Share of female sole proprietors was 38.3% in 2024. ▲ Rising
Share of female sole proprietors in Germany, 2014–2024
Source: World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026. Measured in % of sole proprietors.
Analysis
In 2024, share of female sole proprietors in Germany stood at 38.3%. That is the highest value across all 11 years on record.
That represents a change of up 1.0% on the previous year and up 9.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of female sole proprietors in Germany peaked at 38.3% in 2024 and was at its lowest, 35.0%, in 2018.
Germany ranks 35th of 78 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 11 years of available data.
Share of female sole proprietors in Germany, year by year
| Year | % of sole proprietors | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 35.1% | — |
| 2015 | 35.2% | +0.4% |
| 2016 | 35.4% | +0.6% |
| 2017 | 35.4% | -0.0% |
| 2018 | 35.0% | -1.2% |
| 2019 | 35.3% | +0.9% |
| 2020 | 36.0% | +2.0% |
| 2021 | 36.7% | +1.9% |
| 2022 | 37.8% | +2.9% |
| 2023 | 37.9% | +0.3% |
| 2024 | 38.3% | +1.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 35.2% | 35.0% | 35.4% | 6 |
| 2020s | 37.3% | 36.0% | 38.3% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Germany
More private sector data for Germany
- Merchandise trade 65.5% (2025)
- Food imports 9.2% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 73.4% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 1.54 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 6.3% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 84.1% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 1.76 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 21,130 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.3493 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 5.24 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of female sole proprietors in Germany?
- Share of female sole proprietors in Germany was 38.3% in 2024, according to World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026.
- What is the highest share of female sole proprietors recorded in Germany?
- The highest recorded value was 38.3% in 2024.
- What is the lowest share of female sole proprietors recorded in Germany?
- The lowest recorded value was 35.0% in 2018.
- How does Germany rank for share of female sole proprietors?
- Germany ranks 35th out of 78 countries with data for 2024.
- Is share of female sole proprietors rising or falling in Germany?
- Over the last ten years it is up 9.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Germany data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank's Entrepreneurship Survey and database (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/entrepreneurship). Downloaded on May 2, 2026, published as part of Share of female sole proprietors (% of sole proprietors). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 11 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Share of female sole proprietors is the proportion of female newly registered sole proprietors out of the total number of newly registered sole proprietors in the economy in the calendar year. A sole proprietorship is a business entity owned and managed by a single individual who is indistinguishable from the business and personally liable.