The 2007 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, an annual assessment of entrepreneurship around the world conducted by London Business School and Babson College, is now available for free download. Some of the key findings this year include:

• Many low-income countries are exhibiting high rates of early-
  stage entrepreneurial activity. The top three hotspots for early-stage entrepreneurship are Thailand, Peru and Colombia. The lowest activity was in Russia, Romania and Latvia.
• Among high-income countries, Iceland, Hong Kong and the United States lead the way in early-stage entrepreneurial activity, while the lowest rates were found in Austria, Puerto Rico and Belgium. (I was a little surprised to see Puerto Rico listed in the high-income category.)
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, gender differences are relatively small. In high-income countries, though, men are about twice as likely as women to
  be involved in early-stage entrepreneurial activity. For countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia the gender gap is even more pronounced: men are 2.3 times as likely to be early-stage entrepreneurs as women.
• The vast majority of entrepreneurial businesses offer products or services that people are already familiar with. Only around 10% offer products or services that are considered new or unfamiliar to all of their potential customers.
• The report debunks some of the common misconceptions that high number of entrepreneurial businesses, particularly new ones, fail. One of the common reasons for the misconception uncovered by the study is that, on average, about one-third of businesses that were "discontinued" actually continued in some other form or with different ownership. Also, financial problems were cited as the reason for quitting the business by no more than 55% of all respondents.
• While regulatory red tape has very little impact on the launch of microbusinesses, it is a significant barrier to the creation of high-growth, ambitious enterprises. Previous studies have shown a strong link between high-potential entrepreneurship and subsequent economic growth.