The UK is only the 13th best country to start a business

It’s not easy for new businesses in the UK to find success, research suggests.

Weighing up factors such as population, average cost of living, and business survival rates, financial services company Paymentsense has found the best countries to start a business.

The UK barely made the top 15. Despite a respectable employment rate of 75%, it is dragged down by a five-year enterprise survival rate of just 44%.

Ireland is ahead of the UK at third place with an company survival rate of 80%.

But the United States is officially the world’s best place to start a business, overall.

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Surprise entry Belgium landed in second place with 64% business survival rate and relatively low cost of living, but still behind the US.

America’s mix of healthy employment rates, excellent average annual salary, and high business survival rate put it on top of competition.

And within the US, New York, Texas and California were found to be the best states for business start-ups.

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With companies such as NBCUniversal, Pfizer, and JPMorgan Chase all located in New York, and a tourist industry worth in excess of $100bn per annum, the city remains a favourite for businesses.

Despite being built on oil and agriculture, Texas is also ahead in industries like aerospace, computing and biomedical sciences.

And with a population of 39.5 million people, high rates of employment, and a 52% chance of business survival, Silicon Valley and wider California continue to attract start-ups.

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Canada, France, Sweden, Australia, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands and Italy also made the list of the top 15 countries to start a business, ahead of the UK.

Meanwhile, Spain and Portugal dragged behind at 14 and 15, respectively.