Italy is Europes number one for freelancers, with 28 per cent of the workforce registered as self-employed. The new finding comes from the recently released OECD Factbook 2005: Environmental and Social Statistics, which describes self-employment either as a survival strategy for those who cannot find any other means of earning an income or as evidence of entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to be ones own boss. Self-employed persons include employers, own-account workers, members of producers co-operatives, and unpaid family workers. According to OECD data, self-employment is most common in countries with low per capita income, such as Turkey (49.4 per cent) and Mexico (37.1 per cent) with Italy being the clear exception. By contrast, French and German freelancers account for just 11.4 per cent and 8.8 per cent of the workforce respectively.