How many more people could start a business

Picturing it, planning it, doing it

The figures come from three surveys of different groups and measure different things: the first asks, with no time frame at all, whether self-employment is an option in principle, the last counts who actually went self-employed that year.

34%

of employees in Germany said in 2025 that self-employment was an option for them in principle, up from 33 per cent the year before. 57 per cent ruled it out.^{3Mehr als jeder zweite Angestellte unter 25 Jahren ist zur Selbständigkeit bereit, HDI Versicherungen, HDI Berufe-Studie 2025, durchgeführt von YouGov, 2025.}

14.2%

of 18 to 64-year-olds who weren’t already starting or running a business expected in 2025 to start one within three years, alone or with others.^{4GEM 2025/2026 Global Report: From Uncertainty to Opportunity, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, 2025.}

5.1%

of 18 to 64-year-olds had seriously looked into becoming self-employed in 2025 and were still pursuing the plan.^{5KfW-Gründungsmonitor 2026, KfW Research, 2025.}

1.36%

of 18 to 64-year-olds actually went self-employed in 2025, 136 in every 10,000.^{5KfW-Gründungsmonitor 2026, KfW Research, 2025.}

Who can picture starting a business

The same question to employees as above, by age and by state. The answers are far apart.

52%

of employees under 25 said in 2025 that self-employment was an option for them in principle. In 2024 it was 40 per cent, in 2023 46 per cent.^{3Mehr als jeder zweite Angestellte unter 25 Jahren ist zur Selbständigkeit bereit, HDI Versicherungen, HDI Berufe-Studie 2025, durchgeführt von YouGov, 2025.}

26%

of employees aged 40 and over said the same in 2025. Two thirds of them ruled it out.^{3Mehr als jeder zweite Angestellte unter 25 Jahren ist zur Selbständigkeit bereit, HDI Versicherungen, HDI Berufe-Studie 2025, durchgeführt von YouGov, 2025.}

49%

of employees in Bremen said in 2025 that self-employment was an option for them in principle, 47 per cent in Hamburg and 45 per cent in Berlin. That’s almost twice as many as in Saxony, at 23 per cent, and Thuringia, at 24 per cent.^{3Mehr als jeder zweite Angestellte unter 25 Jahren ist zur Selbständigkeit bereit, HDI Versicherungen, HDI Berufe-Studie 2025, durchgeführt von YouGov, 2025.}