"The fear of failure has continued to grow and is a significant obstacle to entrepreneurial activity," University of Oulu professor Matti Muhos said. File photo Image: Eve Mantu / Yle, Anu Heikkinen / YleYle NewsSTTCompared to budding entrepreneurs around the world, people in Finland are more cautious about the idea of starting a business, a recent study has found. International research has shown that entrepreneurship is not a terribly attractive career track in Finland, and not many people decide to go into business on their own. The research also found the numbers of entrepreneur startups, as well as established independent businesses, have been in decline since 2021. Compared to the findings of a four-year-old study, these days fewer people think that they would start a company or find business opportunities than they did four years ago, according to Matti Muhos, the University of Oulu's professor of growth management, renewing business and digitalisation."At the same time, the fear of failure has continued to grow and is a significant obstacle to entrepreneurial activity," Muhos said in a press release. Young adults ready to take risksHowever, young adults had a relatively more positive attitude towards entrepreneurship, standing out from the rest of the population. Their intentions to start a businesses have also grown, according to the study's findings. While Finland has good structural conditions for entrepreneurship, there is still room for improvement. According to expert assessments, financing access has weakened, the priority given to entrepreneurship policy has declined, and cultural support for entrepreneurship is limited."Despite the structural foundation, the entrepreneurial environment has become more cautious and less supportive of new businesses. We [in Finland] lag far behind, for example, Lithuania and Estonia, where the culture strongly favours entrepreneurship," Vice-Rector Elina Varamäki, from Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, said in the release. The research report was based on survey data from 53 countries. In Finland, over 2,000 adults and nearly 40 entrepreneurship experts responded to the survey last year. The Finnish portion of the study was carried out by the University of Oulu's Kerttu Saalasti Institute and Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences with support from the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, the Keskitie Foundation, Optia Savings Bank, and the Töysä Savings Bank Foundation.