Adult Population Survey (APS): The APS is a comprehensive questionnaire, administered to a minimum of 2000 adults in each GEM country, designed to collect detailed information on the entrepreneurial activity, attitudes and aspirations of respondents.

• Perceived Opportunities Rate: Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who see good opportunities to start a firm in the area where they live


• Perceived Capabilities Rate: Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who believe they have the required skills and knowledge to start a business


• Fear of Failure Rate: Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who indicate that fear of failure would prevent them from setting up a business


• Entrepreneurial Intentions Rate: Percentage of 18-64 population (individuals involved in any stage of entrepreneurial activity excluded) who are latent entrepreneurs and who intend to start a business within three years


• Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) Rate: Percentage of 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a new business


• Established Business Ownership Rate : Percentage of 18-64 population who are currently an owner-manager of an established business, i.e., owning and managing a running business that has paid salaries, wages, or any other payments to the owners for more than 42 months


• Entrepreneurial Employee Activity Rate: Rate of involvement of employees in entrepreneurial activities, such as developing or launching new goods or services, or setting up a new business unit, a new establishment or subsidiary


• Motivational Index: Percentage of those involved in TEA that are improvement-driven opportunity motivated, divided by the percentage of TEA that is necessity-motivated


• Female/Male TEA Ratio: Percentage of female 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a 'new business', divided by the equivalent percentage for their male counterparts


• Female/Male Opportunity-Driven TEA Ratio: Percentage of those females involved in TEA who (i) claim to be driven by opportunity as opposed to finding no other option for work; and (ii) who indicate the main driver for being involved in this opportunity is being independent or increasing their income, rather than just maintaining their income, divided by the equivalent percentage for their male counterparts


• High Job Creation Expectation Rate: Percentage of those involved in TEA who expect to create 6 or more jobs in 5 years


• Innovation Rate: Percentage of those involved in TEA who indicate that their product or service is new to at least some customers AND that few/no businesses offer the same product


• Business Services Sector Rate: Percentage of those involved in TEA in the 'Business Services' sector - Information and Communication, Financial Intermediation and Real Estate, Professional Services or Administrative Services, as defined by the ISIC 4.0 Business Type Codebook


• High Status to Successful Entrepreneurs Rate: Percentage of 18-64 population who agree with the statement that in their country, successful entrepreneurs receive high status


• Entrepreneurship as a Good Career Choice Rate: Percentage of 18-64 population who agree with the statement that in their country, most people consider starting a business as a desirable career choice

• Entrepreneurial Finance: The availability of financial resources—equity and debt—for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (including grants and subsidies)


• Governmental Policies: Support and Relevance: The extent to which public policies support entrepreneurship - entrepreneurship as a relevant economic issue


• Government Policies: Taxes and Bureaucracy: The extent to which public policies support entrepreneurship - taxes or regulations are either size-neutral or encourage new and SMEs


• Government Entrepreneurship Programs: The presence and quality of programs directly assisting SMEs at all levels of government (national, regional, municipal)


• Entrepreneurial Education at School Stage: The extent to which training in creating or managing SMEs is incorporated within the education and training system at primary and secondary levels


• Entrepreneurial Education at Post School Stage: The extent to which training in creating or managing SMEs is incorporated within the education and training system in higher education such as vocational, college, business schools, etc.


• R&D Transfer: The extent to which national research and development will lead to new commercial opportunities and is available to SMEs


• Commercial and Legal Infrastructure: The presence of property rights, commercial, accounting and other legal and assessment services and institutions that support or promote SMEs


• Internal Market Dynamics: The level of change in markets from year to year


• Internal Market Burdens or Entry Regulation: The extent to which new firms are free to enter existing markets


• Physical Infrastructure: Ease of access to physical resources—communication, utilities, transportation, land or space—at a price that does not discriminate against SMEs


• Cultural and Social Norms: The extent to which social and cultural norms encourage or allow actions leading to new business methods or activities that can potentially increase personal wealth and income

Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA): GERA is the umbrella organization that owns GEM, registered as a private limited not-for-profit company in the United Kingdom. It is funded by National Team fees, and the contributions of sponsoring institutions.

Individual-Level Data: A .sav data file, either APS or NES, containing all information for all interviews conducted. 

National Expert Survey (NES): The NES is administered to 36 'experts' in each GEM country and collects data on the context in which entrepreneurship takes place in a country. It provides information about the nine aspects of a country’s socio-economic milieu that are believed to have a significant impact on national entrepreneurship - the Entrepreneurship Framework Conditions (EFCs).

National-Level Data: A .sav data file, either APS or NES, containing GEM-calculated rates for an economy or economies.

National Team: GEM is formed of a consortium of ‘National Teams’. Each Team is led by a local university or academic institution. The team is the official national representative of the project - responsible for collecting GEM data in the country on an annual basis, producing a 'National Report' on their findings, and acting as the point of contact for GEM enquiries.

Request For Proposal (RFP) Package: The package, usually a .zip file, which includes all the documents which National Teams need to submit in order to request approval for data collection as well as the documents they will need to conduct the surveys.

Request For Proposal (RFP): This is a .pdf document issued by GEM, outlining the requirements for completing the APS and NES in a particular year. It is contained within the RFP package (see above).

Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA): GEM's most well-known index, representing the percentage of 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a new business.