Entrepreneurship development is an important requirement for achieving of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It is also a means to respond to new economic challenges, to create jobs and to fight social and financial exclusion. The impact of the global financial and economic crisis calls for giving entrepreneurship and self-employment a stronger role in economic and social development policies.

This book collects and synthesizes information and data on entrepreneurship activities in Europe, focusing on people that are at the greatest risk of social exclusion. These groups include young people, older people, women, ethnic minorities and migrants, people with disabilities and the unemployed.