Social enterprises put people and the planet first, according to The State of Social Enterprise: A Review of Global Data 2013–2023. Across more than 80 countries representing 83% of the global population, the review estimates about 10 million social enterprises, around $2 trillion in annual revenue, and nearly 200 million jobs. Its evidence covers data collected from 2013 through 2023, so the figures describe a broad multi-year picture rather than one synchronized annual census.
Contents
- Global scale and economic contribution
- Women and young leaders
- Africa’s social enterprise sector
- Impact and the Schwab Foundation community
- Resources, networks, and commitments
- What U.S. venture statistics show
Global scale and economic contribution
The global estimates place social entrepreneurship well beyond a small niche of charitable start-ups. The 2024 review, The State of Social Enterprise: A Review of Global Data 2013–2023, counts approximately 10 million social enterprises worldwide. It estimates that these organizations generate about $2 trillion in annual revenue and create nearly 200 million jobs globally.
Those three measures describe different dimensions of scale. The enterprise estimate indicates the size of the organizational population. The revenue estimate describes annual economic activity. The jobs estimate captures employment associated with the sector. They should not be treated as a calculation of revenue per enterprise or jobs per enterprise because the source does not provide a synchronized denominator, methodology, or year for each measure.
The same review draws on data from more than 80 countries. Those countries are home to 83% of the world’s population. Because the review combines information gathered between 2013 and 2023, readers should interpret the results as a global evidence base assembled over a decade, not as a single-year estimate for every country.
The 2024 social enterprise story, 10 million enterprises putting people and planet first, repeats two of the headline measures: more than 200 million jobs and $2 trillion in annual revenues. The wording differs slightly from the review’s “nearly 200 million jobs” estimate, so both descriptions are retained as reported by their respective source labels rather than reconciled into a more precise number.
| Global indicator | Reported figure | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| Social enterprises | About 10 million | The State of Social Enterprise: A Review of Global Data 2013–2023; data collected 2013–2023 |
| Annual revenue | Around $2 trillion | Same review; global estimate |
| Jobs | Nearly 200 million | Same review; global estimate |
| Countries covered | More than 80 | Same review; 2024 review |
| Population represented | 83% | Same review; countries in coverage |
Women and young leaders
Leadership is one of the clearest distinguishing patterns in the available global statistics. One in two social enterprises worldwide are led by women, according to The State of Social Enterprise: A Review of Global Data 2013–2023. That is a reported 50% proportion in everyday fractional terms.
The same review gives a comparison point for conventional enterprise: only one in five conventional enterprises are led by women. The comparison is 50% versus 20%, but the source does not establish that the two figures were collected through identical surveys or in the same years. The contrast is therefore useful as reported context, not as a controlled causal comparison.
The 2024 story 10 million enterprises putting people and planet first also reports women-led social enterprises at one in two globally. Its repetition supports the importance of the measure within the source’s presentation, while the underlying figures remain estimates tied to the review’s evidence base.
The African report adds a second leadership lens. The State of Social Enterprise: Unlocking Inclusive Growth, Jobs and Development in Africa estimates that more than half of African social enterprises are led by women. It also reports that more than one in three African social enterprises are youth-led. “More than half” is above 50%, while “more than one in three” is above approximately 33.3%; neither source label supplies a more exact percentage.
The figures suggest that social entrepreneurship has a strong association with women’s leadership in the reported global and African evidence. They do not, on their own, explain why leadership patterns differ, whether the organizations are founder-led or governed by boards, or how the definition of “led” was operationalized. Those questions require additional methodological detail beyond the supplied statistics.
Africa’s social enterprise sector
Africa’s estimates show a substantial regional sector in absolute terms. The African report estimates 2.18 million social enterprises on the continent. It also estimates around $96 billion in annual revenue and at least 12 million jobs created by African social enterprises.
The regional figures are not a simple restatement of the global figures. They have their own geography and source, and the report was published on 17 November 2025. The publication date identifies when the report was released; it does not mean every underlying enterprise, revenue, or jobs observation was measured on that date.
| African indicator | Reported figure | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Social enterprises | 2.18 million | Estimated number in Africa |
| Annual revenue | Around $96 billion | Regional annual estimate |
| Jobs | At least 12 million | Regional lower-bound wording |
| Women-led enterprises | More than half | Leadership share above 50% |
| Youth-led enterprises | More than one in three | Leadership share above about 33.3% |
The wording “at least 12 million jobs” matters. It signals a lower bound rather than a point estimate, so the actual number could be higher within the report’s measurement framework. Similarly, “around $96 billion” communicates approximation rather than a precise accounting total.
The Africa-specific statistics provide useful scale and inclusion signals together. They combine the estimated number of enterprises with annual revenue and employment, then add women-led and youth-led shares. Still, the measures should not be used to infer average revenue per enterprise, average jobs per enterprise, or growth since the global review without additional dated observations and compatible definitions.
Impact and the Schwab Foundation community
Impact figures from the Schwab Foundation describe a selected community of social innovators, not the entire social enterprise population. The 2026 account, How 510 Social Entrepreneurs and Innovators have improved the lives of 950 million people worldwide, says the community includes 510 active social innovators from 439 organizations. They operate in 190 countries and have directly improved the lives of more than 950 million people worldwide.
The same account says the innovators mobilized more than $1 billion in resources over the past year. The period is stated relative to the account, while the supplied fact does not identify a calendar-year start or end date. The figure is therefore best read as a recent one-year resource-mobilization measure associated with that report, not as lifetime funding.
The community’s reported impact has changed across source labels and reporting years. The 2024 report Trusting in Humanity: The Power of People to Lead their Own Change, released on 16 January 2024, says the Schwab community directly improved 891 million lives over the past 25 years. The 2022 report Transforming through Trust: How social innovators are transforming the lives of 722 million reported 722 million lives improved and said the Foundation had impacted more than 100 million people from 2019 to 2022.
The 2025 World Economic Forum story How social innovators are improving lives worldwide reported about 500 social innovators and 931 million lives improved. These totals are not interchangeable snapshots of an identical panel: the community size, reporting date, and scope may differ. They should not be used to calculate an annual growth rate or an average number of lives improved per innovator without a consistent methodology.
The timeline can be read as a set of reported milestones:
- The 2022 Schwab impact report: 722 million lives improved.
- The 2024 report, released 16 January 2024: 891 million lives improved over 25 years.
- The 2025 Forum story: 931 million lives improved and about 500 innovators.
- The 2026 account: more than 950 million lives improved by 510 active innovators from 439 organizations.
The Schwab Foundation says it built this global community over nearly three decades. That statement supplies context for why the impact measures are cumulative and why the reported totals should not be read as one year’s output.
Resources, networks, and commitments
The 2026 Schwab account reports that the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship connects more than 130 member organizations. Those organizations represent over 100,000 social enterprises. The same account says the Corporate Leadership Council and Policy Leadership Council bring together more than 50 companies and 30 policymakers and multilateral partners.
In the first year of reporting, members of those councils contributed over $270 million to social innovation. That amount is tied to the first reporting year and should not be combined with the more than $1 billion mobilized by the 510 innovators over the past year; the figures refer to different groups and reporting frames.
The account also reports that 28 companies signed the Rise Ahead Pledge. This is a count of signatories, not a measure of pledged dollars, completed projects, or measured impact. Keeping those categories separate prevents a commitment count from being mistaken for an outcome count.
Resource constraints remain visible in the same source. Eighty-two percent of social innovators reported being affected by shrinking financial and in-kind resources. The statistic describes reported exposure to a constraint; it does not quantify the size of each shortfall or establish that shrinking resources caused a specific impact result.
The broader 2021 update 100 leading organizations are supporting social entrepreneurs worldwide said 100 organizations supported social entrepreneurs worldwide. It also said the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship community included 416 social entrepreneurs in a 2021 Forum update. These earlier counts provide historical context, but they are not directly comparable with the 2026 figures unless the membership definitions and counting rules are known to be the same.
What U.S. venture statistics show
The U.S. study Social Entrepreneurship Amongst Women and Men in the United States provides venture-level and founder-level measures. Among existing social ventures, the study found a median of 12 people employed per venture, including contractors and employees. It also found about 5 volunteers per social venture. U.S. social entrepreneurs expected about 25 people to be working in their ventures in five years.
That combination distinguishes current operating scale from expectations. The median of 12 is not an average, and the expectation of 25 people in five years is not an observed employment outcome. The figures also include contractors and employees in the first measure, while volunteers are counted separately.
The study reported differences in the size distribution of male- and female-led U.S. social ventures. Male social entrepreneurs were 3.2% of total respondents with one current employee, compared with 2.8% for female social entrepreneurs. In the 2–5 current-employee band, the corresponding figures were 14.8% and 10.2%. For ventures with more than 100 current employees, the figures were 9.7% for male social entrepreneurs and 3.3% for female social entrepreneurs.
| U.S. current-employee band | Male social entrepreneurs | Female social entrepreneurs |
|---|---|---|
| One employee | 3.2% of total respondents | 2.8% of total respondents |
| 2–5 employees | 14.8% of total respondents | 10.2% of total respondents |
| More than 100 employees | 9.7% of total respondents | 3.3% of total respondents |
The percentages use total respondents as their denominator, while the education, income, values, and startup-capital statistics below use gender samples or a nascent-entrepreneur subgroup where stated. They should not be added together or interpreted as shares of one common population.
In the highest household-income third, 27.7% of male social entrepreneurs and 21.6% of female social entrepreneurs were represented in the U.S. study. Post-secondary education was reported for 50.6% of male social entrepreneurs and 57.4% of female social entrepreneurs in their respective gender samples.
Values were also measured by gender. Some 65.5% of male social entrepreneurs and 79.7% of female social entrepreneurs agreed that social and environmental value matters more than financial value. Female social entrepreneurs were 61.8% likely to prioritize social over environmental value, compared with 52.5% for male social entrepreneurs.
Finally, the study reported different startup-capital bands among nascent U.S. social entrepreneurs. Female nascent social entrepreneurs were 40.8% of their gender sample in the $1,001–$10,000 band. Male nascent social entrepreneurs were 21.6% of their gender sample in the $100,001–$1,000,000 band. These are subgroup shares, not evidence that one gender raised a specific total amount or that the two capital bands are directly comparable in size.