Women with foreign backgrounds gain ground among Sweden’s new business owners

Women with foreign backgrounds made up 38% of women leading newly started businesses in Sweden in 2025, up from 27% in 2016. Their number rose by 48% over that period, while the number of new business owners with Swedish backgrounds fell.

The SCB figures, released on 15 October, count 9,330 women with foreign backgrounds leading new businesses in 2025, compared with 6,290 in 2016. The corresponding increase among men was 33%.

“Foreign background” means either being born abroad or being born in Sweden with two foreign-born parents. The figures therefore cover more than immigrants alone.

The shift has not closed the overall gender gap. Women still accounted for roughly a third of new entrepreneurs in 2025: 24,400 women compared with 49,500 men.

Women were in the majority among new entrepreneurs in health and social care, personal and cultural services, and education. In construction, their share was just 7%.

SCB’s register-based measure identifies the person leading a newly started business. The figures describe who starts businesses; they do not establish why the pattern has changed.

DailySweden

DailySweden's desk of editors, reporters, researchers and investigative journalists. We bring readers factual, truthful and objective reporting on the issues that matter to them.

Contact the editorial desk ›