Spain moved up three places in Opinium’s 2026 ranking of 50 countries for starting a business. It scored highest for human capital and lowest for governance and market potential.
Opinium’s table puts a 22-place gap between Spain’s strongest and weakest category scores.
The country ranks 13th for Human Capital and 35th for both Governance and Market Potential. Opinium’s Global Entrepreneurship Index 2026 compares conditions for starting a business across 50 countries. Spain stands 18th for Economy and Finance, then 19th for Connectivity.
Overall, Spain ranks 23rd, up from 26th in the 2025 survey.
Opinium conducted the survey, and the Daily Mail reported Spain’s placement. Singapore and Switzerland lead the ranking, followed by Hong Kong and Denmark. Luxembourg and Sweden come next, with Macao and the United Arab Emirates behind them. The Netherlands and Iceland complete the top ten.
Spain ranks ahead of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It also sits above Portugal and France, as well as Italy and the United States. Saudi Arabia is below Spain too. A separate report on EU budget talks covered Spain’s position in negotiations over the bloc’s next funding plan. That debate is separate from Opinium’s comparison of business conditions. This Is Money reported that the UK slipped from 23rd to 24th in the index, behind Spain.
Separate figures from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Spain 2025–2026 track activity and intentions. The share of people intending to start a business within three years stood at 13.8%. Early-stage entrepreneurial activity was 7.8%. Businesses operating for more than three and a half years made up 7.4%. The report also found that 53% of the population associated entrepreneurship with fear of failure.
Spain introduced its Startup Law and Crea y Crece Law in 2022. The laws were designed to simplify procedures and reduce the costs of setting up companies. They were also intended to improve access to finance. The GEM figures offer a separate measure from Opinium’s international ranking of business conditions.
Spain’s Ministry of Economy said its investment-climate barometer drew on assessments from more than 750 foreign companies operating in the country. The average business-climate score was 2.85 out of five, unchanged from the previous year. In 2025, 86% of surveyed companies increased or maintained their invested capital. Another 85% expected to increase or maintain projects in 2026. A total of 74% exported from Spain.
Business registrations also held up. Spain’s National Statistics Institute recorded 7,526 new commercial companies in August 2026, up 5.7% year on year and the highest August total since 2007. Their subscribed capital reached €456.4 million, a 92.8% increase from August 2025. In the same month, 1,315 companies were dissolved, up 2.8% year on year.
Spain’s technology-startup ecosystem has grown alongside that activity. Figures cited in the 2026 National Report on Tech and Innovative Companies show that new technology startups rose from 112 in 2019 to 570 in 2025. Since 2019, Spain has created 10,294 startups. Together, they account for 27,605 jobs. Their annual revenue is €935.4 million.
