New Delhi: Even as Asia, including India, has a higher proportion of entrepreneurs compared to the rest of the world, the number of women business owners is much below the global average, according to a recent report.

"The number of female business owners in Asia is still trailing levels seen amongst their male counterparts and below the global average," says a new research report from Barclays Wealth and Investment Management.

This, it says, is despite Asia having a higher proportion of entrepreneurs (47percent) compared to the U.S. (29 percent) and Europe (30 percent).

This new report finds that 39 percent of high net worth (HNW) women in Asia classify themselves as business owners, which is far below the 50 percent of high net worth men in Asia.

Globally, 44 percent of HNW women and 49 percent of HNW men classify themselves as business owners.

It also shows that the gender pay gap is wider for non-entrepreneurs compared to entrepreneurs.

Non-entrepreneur women earn significantly more than non-entrepreneur men, while male entrepreneurs make slightly more than their female counterparts, it shows.

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