In Slovenia, 57% of the surveyed respondents believe that entrepreneurship is a good career choice, which is slightly below the European average of 59%.

Presenting the survey in Ljubljana on Thursday, Miroslav Rebernik of the Slovenian GEM survey said that while Slovenians respect successful entrepreneurs, they believe that it is a good career choice to a lesser extent.

Only a quarter of adult Slovenians meanwhile think that good business opportunities have arisen or will arise in the next six months in their environment, he added.

This puts Slovenia at the bottom in global terms, as the country ranks 59th among the 65 participating countries. Sweden tops the list with 79%, while Greece is last with 13%.

The Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) index, which measures the share of adult population which is establishing or has established a company, last year in Slovenia increased to "very optimistic eight percent".

But this still puts Slovenia only in 48th place globally and 16th among the 27 participating European countries.

According to Rebernik, the share increased primarily on the account of individuals who are making first steps towards establishing a new company or who formally established a new company less than four months ago.

"Since this is a very sensitive period, it is important to find the ways to encourage emerging entrepreneurs to stay on this path and develop companies which would have objective chance of creating new jobs and quality development."

The survey, which monitors entrepreneurial activity in all phases of the entrepreneurial process, indicates a considerable loss of the entrepreneurial potential for Slovenia.

In order to reduce the loss of entrepreneurial potential, we need individual and specific support measures in each individual phase of the entrepreneurial process, Rebernik warned.

In 2016, the share of entrepreneurs who have had a company for more than three and a half years in the 25-34 age group also dropped considerably and is lagging behind the average.

This too indicates the urgent need for effective support by government policies and programmes, including in entrepreneurial education, Rebernik concluded.