1. BIWI index Europe
Bisnode Index of Women Influence
The Bisnode Index of Women Influence – BIWI – is a unique index used to compare various countries according to
the influence women have on their economies. The influence of women is measured according to four parameters:
share in the number of companies, share in the number of employees, share in revenues and share in net profits.
The share of the number of women-owned companies compared to the total number of companies is the base for
calculating the BIWI. This base is then multiplied by the volume of business of women-owned companies, which is
measured by the number of employees, revenues and earned net profits.

2. Women in Sweden have the greatest influence on the domestic economy,
according to the BIWI. They are followed by Hungarian women entrepreneurs,
while Serbia also has an above-average BIWI. Austria and Poland also have
BIWIs above 100, but calculated using a reduced dataset. The Austrian BIWI is
only based on the number of companies, while the Polish BIWI is based on the
number of companies and revenues. Slovenia has the lowest BIWI.
Croatia
Belgium
Sweden
Czech
Hungary
Austria
Poland
Norway
Slovenia
Serbia
92,8
97,0
135,6
93,7
99,5
85,6
133,3
108,7
107,0
101,1
BIWI index Europe
Average 1000 200
Ten Bisnode countries were included in this analysis. The average
influence of women on the level of all ten analysed countries
represented the base BIWI, with a value of 100. The countries with a
BIWI over 100 are characterised by a greater influence of women on
the domestic economy in comparison to the total average of all ten
countries, while countries with an index under 100 are characterised
by a lower influence of women on the domestic economy.
*based on no. of companies
*based on no. of companies and revenues

3. The ranks used to measure the shares of women entrepreneurs in the total economy according
to specific parameters indicate that Hungarian women entrepreneurs have the largest shares
according to the number of companies, employees and earned revenues. Women-owned
companies in Sweden have the largest share in earned net profits. Slovenia has the smallest
share of companies controlled by women entrepreneurs.
Ranks
RANKS
Hungary
Poland
Belgium
Austria
Czech
Croatia
Serbia
Sweden
Norway
Slovenia
No of companies share No of employees share Revenues share Net profit share
1
3
5
7
9
3
6 6
7
3 3
5 5 5
6
8
4
2
4
6
8
10
8
9
7
2 2
1
4 4
8
7
1 1
2
Countries

4. The ratio of the share of women-owned companies in earned net profits to the share of the number of companies controlled by women
indicates that Swedish and Slovenian women entrepreneurs earn higher net profits than their male colleagues. The net profits of women-
owned companies are on average higher by 55% than the Swedish economy’s average, while in Slovenia women-owned companies are 9%
more profitable than the Slovenian economy’s average. Croatian women entrepreneurs have the worst ratio, indicating that the profitability of
women-owned companies is lower than the economy’s average by two thirds.
Sweden Norway Hungary Slovenia Croatia Serbia Czech Belgium Poland Austria
1,21 1,21 0,90 0,88 0,83 0,75 0,68 0,56
1,26 0,80 0,57 0,75 0,74 0,77 0,50 0,35 0,34
1,55 0,73 0,55 1,09 0,33 0,77 0,48 0,48
According to the ratio of the share of the number of employees in women-owned companies to the share of the number
of companies controlled by women, women-owned companies in Sweden and Norway on average employ more than
men-owned companies. In both countries employment in women-owned companies is 21% above the level of the
economy. In other countries the ratio is below 1, suggesting that women-owned companies employ fewer people than
men-owned ones. The lowest ratio is found in Belgium.
Ratios
No of employees share/
No of companies share
Revenues share/
No of companies share
Net profit share/
No of companies share
The ratio of the share of women-owned companies in earned revenues to the share of the number of companies
controlled by women indicates that Swedish women entrepreneurs earn on average 26% more revenues
compared to the economy’s average. In other countries, women-owned companies on average earn significantly
lower revenues than men-owned companies, with the biggest difference found in Poland where the revenues
earned by women-owned companies are below the average of the country’s economy by almost two thirds.

5. Bisnode AB is Europe’s largest provider of business and credit rating information, based in Stockholm. Bisnode AB has
been present on the European information market since 1989, gathering more than 2,500 experts from 17 European countries.
Bisnode is the biggest Dun & Bradstreet partner and enables information about more than 250,000,000 businesses from 220 countries worldwide.
Author:
Branimir Kovačić, Bisnode Analytics