Thousands of people in the UK think about starting a business “every day”, according to research, but a high proportion of them are put off by the fear of failure.

Research commissioned by the government’s Business is Great campaign shows nearly four in 10 of us have business on the brain, yet of these 78% said they were afraid to fail.

The survey of 1,000 people found that 18 to 24 year-olds were most preoccupied with entrepreneurial ambitions, perhaps considering self-employment in the face of reportedly weak employment prospects and earnings potential for this age group.

It also showed what is holding us back. Apart from fear of failure, lack of a strong mentor or inspiration was one significant factor; another was finding appropriate finance and yet another was finding the right premises from which to launch a business.

Commenting on the findings, business secretary Vince Cable said: “The UK is Europe’s leading entrepreneurial nation and the government is backing small firms as part of our industrial strategy to create long term jobs and grow the economy.

“Large companies also have a vital role to play in offering support and sharing their expertise with smaller companies wanting to grow.

“Over 2 million new businesses have launched since 2010 and I want to encourage all would-be entrepreneurs to visit the GREAT Business website and benefit from the wealth of advice and support that’s out there.”

In other findings from the report, 41% of people said starting a business would be harder than starting a family and 63% said it was one of their greatest ambitions.