Utah is near the top in a couple of rankings about business creation, according to a report issued this week by the research organization The Fraser Institute.

The report ranks Utah third, behind Nevada and Florida, in "encouraging entrepreneurs and the creation of new businesses."

The study found that most new business creation occurs in the smallest firms, those with fewer than 10 employees, and used U.S. Census statistics from 2002 and 2003 about those companies. The research group also studied Canadian provinces.

Nevada had the highest average net business creation as a percentage of total small businesses, at 5.2 percent. The net figure includes new companies and firms that go out of business.

Florida was next, at 4.7 percent, followed by Utah's 4.5 percent. Other states in the top five were Idaho, 3.9 percent, and Montana, 3.3 percent.

Virginia, Georgia, Missouri, Arizona and Delaware were next on the list, which the report said "shows a diverse geographic pattern of entrepreneurial success across the United States."

At the low end were Ohio, 0.1 percent; West Virginia and Connecticut, both at 0.2 percent; Michigan, 0.4 percent; and Massachusetts, 0.6 percent.

Utah was ranked even higher, in second place, in the list of average business births as a percentage of total small businesses — a list that did not include business "deaths" as part of the calculation. Utah's percentage was 20.4 percent, trailing only Nevada at 22.9 percent and ahead of Florida, 20.1 percent; Idaho, 18 percent; and Arizona, 17.7 percent.

At the bottom of the business birth rankings were North Dakota, 11.4 percent; Iowa and Connecticut, both 11.6 percent; Ohio, 11.7 percent; and Pennsylvania, 11.8 percent.

"Small and entrepreneurial businesses are key to creating new jobs, innovation and ultimately economic prosperity," Jason Clemens, resident scholar with The Fraser Institute and co-author of report, said in a statement. "Consequently, states or provinces with a high level of new business creation are going to have more dynamic and faster growing economies."

The Fraser Institute is an independent research and educational organization with offices in Tampa and four Canadian cities. It studies "the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals." It does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research.

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