While stress levels amongst New Zealand business owners seem relatively stable and low compared with global standards, the impact of the recession appears to be impacting smaller family-owned businesses on a greater scale.

The small business sector is extremely important for the New Zealand economy with approximately 89% of businesses falling into this category, employing between 0 and five people per business.

An international survey of 7400 business owners across 36 economies showed that 44% of New Zealand business owners said their stress levels had increased from a year ago compared with a global average of 56%. China topped the poll at 76% with Sweden at a very relaxed 23%.

Peter Sherwin, a partner of Grant Thornton New Zealand, said that the New Zealand figures masked a growing problem amongst small, family-owned businesses, especially where a husband and wife were involved.

"Pressure on cash flow is the major problem affecting New Zealand businesses at 19% with heavy workload at 16% being the next most important stress factor. Where these pressures really mount is when the owners are also husband and wife or living together. There is just no escape for them. They take home their work problems and over time the pressure becomes too great.

"In many instances family-owned businesses are financed through banks with security against their family home. So when a business starts to under perform, the pressure on an owner mounts, as not only do they worry about food on the table but also a roof over their family heads.

"Already I have had two clients undergo matrimonial break-ups because of this pressure, and I know there are others that are under severe pressure. Many can endure for considerable periods, but in the end it just becomes too much and I am worried for many of these husband and wife-type businesses," he said.

Sherwin said that the variances in New Zealand were also interesting.

"Cashflow as a problem was higher in the North Island at 21.1% compared with 16.1% for the South Island, while North Island business owners took more holidays at 19.67 days per year, plus statutories, compared with 15.98 for South Island owners.

Sherwin said that one statistic that surprised him was the fact there was no correlation between levels of stress and annual leave.

"Australia had a very low stress level of 35%, yet their business owners took an average of 15 days leave a year, plus statutory holidays, three days less than New Zealanders. The United States, with all its problems, had a stress reading of 50%, yet its business owners took only 12 days leave a year on top of statutories.

"With the amount of leave we take, you might have thought our stress levels would have been closer to Australia and you would have expected the United States stress levels, with the relatively few days they take off per year, to have been far higher," he said.

The survey further identified a possible link between stress levels and GDP. Business owners in Mainland China, Vietnam, Mexico, India and Turkey all feature high on the stress league table and are working in environments where high growth is expected. But it's not just in countries expecting high growth that stress levels are high - at the opposite end of the growth scale Ireland, Spain and Greece all feature high on the league table.

"We have business at both ends of the GDP growth scale experiencing high stress for very different reasons. In Mainland China the pressure is on to keep up with the pace of expansion while in Ireland, for example, the economy is retracting and business owners are worried about how they will keep their businesses alive," he said.