Ease of doing business index

The ease of doing business index was an index created jointly by Simeon Djankov, Michael Klein, and Caralee McLiesh, three leading economists at the World Bank Group, following the release of World Development Report 2002.[1][2][3] The academic research for the report was done jointly with professors Edward Glaeser, Oliver Hart, and Andrei Shleifer. Though the first report was authored by Djankov, Klein, and McLiesh, and they continue to be listed as "founders" of the report, some sources attribute the genesis of the idea to Djankov and Gerhard Pohl.[4][5] Higher rankings (a low numerical value) indicated better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights. Empirical research funded by the World Bank to justify their work show that the economic growth effect of improving these regulations is strong.[6] Other researchers find that the distance-to-frontier measure introduced in 2016 after a decision of the World Bank board is not correlated with subsequent economic growth or investment.[7]

"World Development Report 2002", the basis of the research behind Doing Business, analyzes how to build effective institutions.[8] In understanding what drives institutional change, the report emphasizes the importance of history, highlighting the need to ensure effective institutions through a design that complements existing institutions, human capabilities, and available technologies. The study was guided by Joseph Stiglitz and Roumeen Islam with principal authors Simeon Dyankov and Aart Kraay. Several background papers, including by Nobel Prize winners Robert Shiller, Amartya Sen and Gabriel García Márquez, were published in academic journals or books.[9][10][11][12][13]

The report was discontinued by the World Bank on September 14, 2021 following an audit documenting how bank leadership pressured experts to manipulate the results of the 2018 and 2020 reports.[14][15][16] Several organizations have proposed replacements, including the Antigua Forum, the World Bank, and the Fraser Institute.[17][18][19][20] In 2023 the Templeton Foundation extended a grant to Professor Robert Lawson at Southern Methodist University to propose a methodology for restarting the project in academia.[21]

The World Bank released the methodology for the replacement of the index in May 2023. For each of the twelve topic areas, the document provides the motivation, selected indicators, detailed questionnaires, benchmarking parameters, detailed scoring rules, and data collection sources. The World Bank conducted a series of methodology workshops worldwide. Their main purpose was to provide a detailed presentation on the project’s methodology, including overall scope and topic-specific information. The workshops also served to raise awareness about this new benchmarking initiative and disseminate its potential for reform advocacy, policy advice, and development research. The relaunch took place in October 2024 under the moniker "Business Ready," after two delays.[22][23]

World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index map for 2020
  ≥ 85.0
  80.0–84.9
  75.0–79.9
  70.0–74.9
  65.0–69.9
  60.0–64.9
  55.0–59.9
  50.0–54.9
  45.0–49.9
  40.0–44.9
  35.0–39.9
  30.0–34.9
  ≤ 25.0
  Data unavailable

Methodology

The report was a benchmark study of regulation.[8] The survey consisted of a questionnaire designed by the Doing Business team with the assistance of academic advisers. The questionnaire centered on a simple business case that ensures comparability across economies and over time. The survey also based assumptions on the legal form of the business, size, location, and nature of its operations.[24] The ease of doing business index was meant to measure regulations directly affecting businesses and did not directly measure more general conditions such as a nation's proximity to large markets, quality of infrastructure, inflation, or crime.

The next step was gathering data surveys of over 12,500 expert contributors (lawyers, accountants, etc.) in 190 countries who deal with business regulations in their day-to-day work. These individuals interacted with the Doing Business team in conference calls, written correspondence, and visits by the global team. For the 2017 report, team members visited 34 economies to verify data and to recruit respondents. Data from the survey was subjected to several rounds of verification. The surveys were not a statistical sample, and the results were interpreted and cross-checked for consistency before being included in the report. Results were also validated with the relevant government before publication. Respondents filled out written surveys and provided references to the relevant laws, regulations, and fees based on standardized case scenarios with specific assumptions, such as the business being located in the largest business city of the economy.[24]

A nation's ranking on the index was based on an average of 10 subindices:

  • Starting a business – Procedures, time, cost, and minimum capital to open a new business
  • Dealing with construction permits – Procedures, time, and cost to build a warehouse
  • Getting electricity – procedures, time, and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse
  • Registering property – Procedures, time, and cost to register commercial real estate
  • Getting credit – Strength of legal rights index, depth of credit information index
  • Protecting investors – Indices on the extent of disclosure, the extent of director liability, and ease of shareholder suits
  • Paying taxes – Number of taxes paid, hours per year spent preparing tax returns, and total tax payable as a share of gross profit
  • Trading across borders – Number of documents, cost, and time necessary to export and import
  • Enforcing contracts – Procedures, time, and cost to enforce a debt contract
  • Resolving insolvency – The time, cost, and recovery rate (%) under a bankruptcy proceeding

The Doing Business project also offers information on the following datasets:

  • Distance to the frontier – Shows the distance of each economy to the "frontier," which represents the highest performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies included since each indicator was included in Doing Business
  • Good practices – Provide insights into how governments have improved the regulatory environment in the past in the areas measured by Doing Business

For example, according to the Doing Business (DB) 2013 report, Canada ranked third on the first subindex "Starting a business" behind only New Zealand and Australia. In Canada, there is 1 procedure required to start a business which takes on average 5 days to complete. The official cost is 0.4% of the gross national income per capita. There was no minimum capital requirement. By contrast, in Chad which ranked among the worst (181st out of 185) on this same subindex, there were 9 procedures required to start a business taking 62 days to complete. The official cost was 202% of the gross national income per capita. A minimum capital investment of 289.4% of the gross national income per capita is required.

While fewer and simpler regulations often imply higher rankings, this was not always the case. Protecting the rights of creditors and investors, as well as establishing or upgrading property and credit registries, may mean that more regulation is needed.

In most indicators, the case study referred to a small domestically owned manufacturing company—hence the direct relevance of the indicators to foreign investors and large companies is limited. DB uses a simple averaging approach for weighting sub-indicators and calculating rankings.[8] A detailed explanation of every indicator can be found through the DB website and a .xls archive that simulates reforms.

Some caveats regarding the rankings and main information presented have to be considered by every user of the report. Mainly:

  • Doing Business did not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms or investors, such as the macroeconomic conditions, or the level of employment, corruption, stability, or poverty, in every country.
  • Doing Business did not consider the strengths and weaknesses of neither the global financial system, nor the financial system of every country. It also doesn't consider the state of the finances of the government of every country.
  • Doing Business does not cover all the regulations or all the regulatory requirements. Other types of regulation such as financial market, environment, or intellectual property regulations that are relevant for the private sector are not considered.

The Doing Business report was not intended as a complete assessment of competitiveness or the business environment of a country and should rather be considered as a proxy of the regulatory framework faced by the private sector in a country.

History

The Doing Business report has its origins in a 2002 paper published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics by Simeon Djankov, Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes and Andrei Shleifer under the title "The Regulation of Entry". The study presents data on the regulation of entry of start-up firms in 85 countries covering the number of procedures, official time and official cost that a start-up must bear before it can operate legally. The main findings of the paper are that: "Countries with heavier regulation of entry have higher corruption and larger unofficial economies, but no better quality of public or private goods. Countries with more democratic and limited governments have lighter regulation of entry." The paper became widely known, with over five thousand academic references, because it provides quantitative evidence that entry regulation benefits politicians and bureaucrats without adding value to the private sector or granting any additional protection.[25][26]

Several countries have launched reforms to improve their rankings.[27][28] These efforts are motivated to a great scope by the fact that the World Bank Group publishes the data, and hence coverage by the media and the private sector every year. Also, Doing Business highlights every year the successful reforms carried out by each country. The Regulation of Entry was published, Simeon Djankov and Andrei Shleifer have published nine other academic studies, one for each set of indicators covered by the report.[9][10][11][29][30][31][32]

Over 18 years, 2003 to 2020, the reports recorded nearly 5,000 regulatory reforms implemented by 190 economies.

  • Poland was the global top improver in the past year. It enhanced the ease of doing business through four institutional or regulatory reforms, making it easier to register property, pay taxes, enforce contracts, and resolve insolvency.
  • Worldwide, 108 economies implemented 201 regulatory reforms in 2011/12 making it easier to do business as measured by Doing Business. Reform efforts globally have focused on making it easier to start a new business, increasing the efficiency of tax administration, and facilitating trade across international borders. Of the 201 regulatory reforms recorded in the past year, 44% focused on these 3 policy areas alone.
  • Singapore topped the global ranking on the ease of doing business for the seventh consecutive year, followed by Hong Kong SAR; New Zealand; the United States; and Denmark. Georgia was a new entrant to the top 10.

In 2014 Doing Business covered regulations measured from June 2012 through May 2013 in 189 economies. Singapore was the first economy of the global ranking followed by Hong Kong SAR, New Zealand, the United States, Denmark, Malaysia, South Korea, Georgia, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The UK's Confederation of British Industry (CBI) published a recommendation aiming to move the UK from tenth position to fifth by 2020.[33] For the first time data about Libya, Myanmar, San Marino, and South Sudan were collected for this report. 114 economies adopted 238 regulatory reforms during 2012/13: the reforms increased by 18% compared to the previous year.

In 2015, Doing Business covered regulations measured from June 2013 through June 2014 in 189 economies, including territories like Hong Kong.[34] For the first time this year, Doing Business collected data for 2 cities in 11 economies with more than 100 million inhabitants. These economies include Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, and the United States. The added city enables a sub-national comparison and benchmarking against other large cities.[35]

In 2021, the World Bank discontinued Doing Business, following allegations of data manipulation, undue influence, and unethical behavior by several staff including Djankov, including former World Bank vice-president Farid Belhaj, former World Bank research director Shanta Devarajan, former World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, and IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva.[36][16][37][38][39]

In October 2023, The Economist summarized the impact of the project, tracing its origins back to Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek. This Nobel-prize-winning economist and philosopher published the first volume of his magnum opus, “Law, Legislation and Liberty” in 1973, where he argued that the common-law approach is more amenable to freedom than its civil-law counterpart. Both Hayek and the Doing Business authors over-promised on the effects of regulatory reform.[40] A 2024 paper by scholars at the University of Torino however finds significant positive effects on economic growth from reforms associated with Doing Business.[41]

Research and influence

As stated in the report, "Empirical research is needed to establish the optimal level of business regulation—for example, what the duration of court procedures should be and what the optimal degree of social protection is. The indicators compiled in the Doing Business project allow such research to take place. Since the start of the project in November 2001, more than 3,000 academic papers have used one or more indicators constructed in Doing Business and the related background papers by its authors."[42] An example of such empirical research is a paper on business regulation and poverty, published in Economics Letters.

More than 3,000 academic papers used data from the index.[43] The effect of improving regulations on economic growth is claimed to be very strong. Moving from the worst one-fourth of nations to the best one-fourth implies a 2.3 percentage point increase in annual growth. Another 7,000 working papers in economics and social science departments use the data from the Doing Business report. The 2016 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics Oliver Hart is among the authors of such papers.

The various sub-components of the index in themselves provided concrete suggestions for improvement. Many of them may have been relatively easy to implement and uncontroversial (except perhaps among corrupt officials who may gain from onerous regulations requiring bribes to bypass). As such, the index has influenced many nations to improve their regulations. Several have explicitly targeted to reach a minimum position on the index, for example, the top 25 list. To consider the element of corruption and transparency in the economy, the index has also been combined with the Corruption Perceptions Index in the annual Best European Countries for Business publication.[44]

Somewhat similar annual reports are the Indices of Economic Freedom and the Global Competitiveness Report. They, especially the latter, look at many more factors that affect economic growth, like inflation and infrastructure. These factors may however be more subjective and diffuse, since many are measured using surveys and they may be more difficult to change quickly compared to regulations.

A November 2017 EconTalk podcast explains the lasting influence in academia and policy circles of the Doing Business report. Financial crises cyclically peak interest in research on insolvency, using the Doing Business data.[45]

Doing Business Report

The Doing Business Report (DB) was an annually published report which was developed by a team led by Djankov in 2003. It was published by the World Bank Group every year from 2003 to 2019 and aimed to measure the costs to firms of business regulations in 190 countries. The study was one of the flagship knowledge products of the World Bank Group in the field of private sector development and is claimed to have motivated the design of several regulatory reforms in developing countries. The study presented every year a detailed analysis of costs, requirements, and procedures a specific type of private firm is subject in all countries, and then, creates rankings for every country. The study is also backed up by broad communication efforts, and by creating rankings, the study spotlights countries and leaders that are promoting reforms.[46]

The DB was widely known and used by academics, policy-makers, politicians, development experts, journalists, and the business community to highlight red tape and promote reforms. As stated by the IEG study from the World Bank:

"For country authorities, it sheds a bright, sometimes unflattering, light on regulatory aspects of their business climate. For business interests, it has helped to catalyze debates and dialogue about reform. For the World Bank Group, it demonstrates an ability to provide global knowledge, independent of resource transfer and conditionality. The annual exercise generates information that is relevant and useful".

According to the DB, the regulation does matter for the development of the private sectors, and several reforms are suggested across the report to promote the development of the private sector and enable the business environment. Some highlighted findings of the DB are:

Contents

In 2017, the study contains quantitative measures of regulations for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, getting an electricity connection, and closing a business. As stated in the introduction of the study, "A fundamental premise of DB is that economic activity requires good rules. These include rules that establish and clarify property rights and reduce the costs of resolving disputes, rules that increase the predictability of economic interactions, and rules that provide contractual partners with core protections against abuse."

Evaluation

Doing Business was a controversial study, with passionate critics and devoted fans. As recognized by the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank, some have questioned the reliability and objectivity of its measurements while others doubt the relevance of the issues it addresses or fears it may unduly dominate countries reform agendas at the expense of more crucial development objectives. Attention given to the indicators may inadvertently signal that the World Bank Group values less burdensome business regulations more highly than its other strategies for poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Several limitations were present in the DB studies and have to be kept in mind when using the study:

  • The indicators and measures were referred to the costs, requirements, and fees of doing business in the country's largest business city; thus conditions elsewhere within the country may have differed.
  • To achieve cross-country standardization respondents were asked to give estimates for a limited liability company of a specific size.[vague] Costs for other forms and scales of businesses may have differed.
  • Transactions and fees to have cost out were very specifically defined. The costs of other types of transactions may differ.
  • The cost estimates come from individuals identified as expert respondents. Sometimes the estimates given by such individuals may differ with other experts and with public officials. If so, the responses are cross-checked for consistency.
  • The estimates assumed that a business knows what is required and does not waste time. Satisfying regulatory requirements will take longer if the business lacks information or is unable to follow up promptly. A related point here is that DB does not allow for "workarounds", "facilitating fees", and "learning time" that speed or delay approvals and causes variation costs.

Published for seventeen years, the DB has originated a growing body of research on how performance on DB indicators, and reforms generated by the reports, related to specific development desirable outcomes. As stated by the DB 2010, about "405 articles have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals, and about 1143 working papers are available through Google Scholar".

DB was widely used as a study to measure competitiveness. However, regulation rather than competitiveness is the main objective in the DB. Other studies that are also used to measure competitiveness and recognized as business enabling environment ranking systems are the Global Competitiveness Index, the Index of Economic Freedom, and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, among others.[47]

Controversies

2018 manipulation scandal

On 12 January 2018, Paul Romer, the World Bank's chief economist, announced that past releases of the index would be corrected and recalculated going back at least four years. Romer apologized to Chile, saying that the former director of the group responsible for the index had repeatedly manipulated its methodology, unfairly penalizing the country's rankings during the administration of left-wing President Michelle Bachelet. In response, Bachelet announced that Chile would formally request a complete investigation by the World Bank.[48][49] The report revealed that there were more extensive data irregularities, specifically in China's data.[50][51] The Economist claimed that the project's director Augusto Lopez Claros had pressed staff to not show improvements in the indicators during Michelle Bachelet's term in office.[52]

2020 data irregularities controversy

Several major newspapers – including the Financial Times, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal – report that the data of China, Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia among others were suspected to be "inappropriately altered" in the 2020 Doing Business publication.[53][54][55] In light of the data irregularities, the World Bank announced on 27 August 2020 that it would pause the Doing Business publication while it conducts a review of data changes for the last five reports and an internal audit of data integrity.[56][57]

Following these revelations, some organizations paused the use of Doing Business data, and supplemented these reports with data from alternative indicators measuring the same concepts.[58] On 16 December 2020, the World Bank released 3 reports about the conclusions of the reviews examining the data irregularities:[59]

  • A review of the specific irregularities identified.[59]
  • An independent confirmation of these irregularities.[59]
  • An independent review of Doing Business's processes for data production and management.[60]

These reviews found that, while the specific issues uncovered in this breach had been addressed, a culture where management pressured experts to manipulate data persisted: "The DB team members reported undue pressure, both directly and indirectly by Bank management to manipulate data in 2017 during the 2018 report production process and in 2019 during the 2020 report production process. The lack of a safe speak-up environment within the DB team led to a fear of retaliation for those who would escalate and report pressures to manipulate data. This contributed to the compromise of data integrity in the DB report."[60] These reports found that over half of Doing Business staff interviewed admitted to manipulating data.[61]

Other analytical projects at the World Bank, the World Bank Enterprise Surveys, were also revealed to be "vulnerable to the ordering of questions."[62]

"Our results indicate that of the 15 business environment obstacle ratings, only 4 show a statistically significant difference – political instability, corruption, electricity, and business licensing and permits. After using a regression analysis framework to account for several factors, only two business environment elements have a statistically significant difference across the two groups – business licensing and permits, and corruption."

[63]

Cancellation and Response

In September 2021, the World Bank discontinued the Doing Business report following the release of an independent report detailing the specifics of the 2020 and 2018 irregularities, including detailed explanations of how senior leaders at the bank manipulated data and pressured experts to change rankings and methodology to improve scores for certain countries.[64][16]

The report from WilmerHale provided details on the 2018 and 2020 manipulation scandals, implicating the then-president of the Bank Jim Yong Kim, the then-CEO of the Bank Kristalina Georgieva, and one of the founders of the report Simeon Djankov, in data manipulation for the purposes of raising the scores of some countries (China and Saudi Arabia) and reducing the scores of others (Azerbaijan).[37][15][50] In 2018 in an effort to secure funding from China, Kim, Georgieva, and Djankov repeatedly pressured the team that creates the data to pursue multiple avenues to improve China's score, eventually resorting to having members of the team unlock the report and change three of China's data points after the scores had been finalized.[65][50] Georgieva issued a statement disagreeing with the characterization of her actions in the report.[66]

According to the report, in 2020 Djankov pressured the Doing Business team to change Saudi Arabia's score in an effort to rank better than Jordan due to extensive Reimbursable Advisory Services contracts between the Bank and Saudi Arabia. The change in methodology also lead to the UAE improving in score but not overall ranking. Also in 2020, Djankov ordered a review of three of Azerbaijan's data points, citing harassment of lawyers as the reason.[67] The team reviewed these data points and concluded that they were accurate. Djankov ignored these recommendations and changed Azerbaijan's score, also altering the overall methodology of the report to ensure that Azerbaijan scored lower, arguing that the government counterparts had pressured respondents.[68][69]

Beyond these allegations, the report documents a culture of pressure from the highest levels of World Bank management, particularly under the leadership of Djankov.[50][70] According to the report

"nearly every Doing Business employee with whom we spoke described the environment on the Doing Business team under the management of Mr. Djankov to be, at best, deeply problematic, and, at worse, emotionally harrowing. Employees said that Mr. Djankov was a "bully" who instilled fear on the team; that he managed “by terror and intimidation”; that his management style constituted “psychological terrorism” that created a “toxic environment”; that he was a “larger than life fear factor” for everyone on the team; and that his management style was pompous and undiplomatic."[50]

The report also documents the culture of fear that prevented employees from reporting these irregularities, with Djankov threatening retaliation against anyone that threatened his authority, and "dangled promotions in front of Doing Business leadership to incentivize compliance with his personal objectives."[50]

Response to the WilmerHale Report

Following these reports, various agencies expressed concern about the allegations and their effect on the world's faith in data produced by the World Bank.[71][72] US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for strong action to prevent misconduct and strengthen data integrity.[73] Other US agencies called the report "serious and troubling" and replaced data from the Doing Business report with other sources.[72][74][75]

When these allegations came to light, Georgieva was serving as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.[76] The IMF's board reviewed the allegations, but found that the report "did not conclusively demonstrate" that she engaged in data manipulation.[77] The US government refused to publicly support Georgieva, but did not call for her removal.[77]

Response to Report Cancellation

The cancellation of the report led to a range of responses from academics and think tanks, with some claiming that its cancellation was overdue, and others arguing it was an overreaction.[40] According to the progressive Oakland Institute "Even before the extent of the data manipulation came to light and destroyed any credibility of the DBR, the rankings had been built on a flawed premise that rewards countries for reducing their labor standards, destroying the environment, and providing easy access for corporate pillaging and land grabs."[78] The director of policy and research for the Cicero Institute, noted that institutions like the World Bank are especially prone to corruption like this:

"Multilateral institutions like the World Bank are particularly susceptible to such forces. Their structures ensure that each government gets a say, while no one government is held accountable. When Georgieva thanked a data manipulator for doing his “bit for multilateralism,” she was more right than she knew. Like many supposedly not-for-profit international organizations, the World Bank also found ways to peddle its influence. It began selling “Reimbursable Advisory Services” to countries that wanted to improve their ranking on the index."[79]

Others criticized the cancellation of the report. Professor Robert Lawson, Fullinwider Chair in Economic Freedom at Southern Methodist University described this decision as "throwing the baby out with the bathwater."[80] According to Ian Vasquez, director for policy at the Cato Institute, a US-based libertarian think tank:

"It was a serious mistake for the World Bank to discontinue the Doing Business report. It did so out of concerns about data irregularities for two years affecting four countries. Instead of instituting sensible, new measures on process and methodology as recommended by the firm that conducted an independent review for the World Bank, the bank chose to scrap the Doing Business report altogether. From the outside, it very much looks like the decade‐long campaign by critics of market‐oriented policies finally triumphed."[81]

Reception

The Doing Business methodology regarding labor regulations was criticized by the International Trade Union Confederation because it favored flexible employment regulations.[82] In early reports, the easier it was to dismiss a worker for economic reasons in a country, the more its rankings improved. The Employing Workers index was revised in Doing Business 2008 to be in full compliance with the 188 International Labour Organization conventions. It has subsequently been removed from the rankings. The ITUC debuted the Global Rights Index in 2014 as a response to the Doing Business report.[83]

In 2008 the World Bank Group's Independent Evaluation Group, a semi-independent watchdog within the World Bank Group, published an evaluation of the Doing Business index.[84] The report, Doing Business: An Independent Evaluation, contained both praise and criticism of Doing Business. The report recommended that the index be clearer about what is and is not measured, disclose changes to published data, recruit more informants, and simplify the Paying Taxes indicator.

In April 2009 the World Bank issued a note with revisions to the Employing Workers index.[85] The note explained that scoring for the "Employing Workers" indicator would be updated in Doing Business 2010 to give favorable scores for complying with relevant ILO conventions. The Employing Workers indicator was also removed as a guidepost for Country Policy and Institutional Assessments, which help determine resources provided to IDA countries.

A study commissioned by the Norwegian government alleges methodological weaknesses, an uncertainty in the ability of the indicators to capture the underlying business climate and a concern that countries may find it easier to change their ranking in Doing Business than to change the underlying business environment.[86]

In 2013, an independent panel appointed by the President of the World Bank and headed by Trevor Manuel of South Africa issued a review expressing concern about the potential for the report and index to be misinterpreted, and the narrowness of the indicators and information base. It recommended that the report be retained, but that the aggregate rankings be removed and that a peer-review process is implemented (among other things). Regarding the topics of Paying Taxes and Employing Workers, it noted that "The latter has already been excluded from the report's rankings. While there is a persuasive case for paying attention to these aspects of doing business, the Bank will need to carefully consider the correct way to assess the regulation and legal environment of these areas if these indicators are to be retained."[87]

In 2018, another independent evaluation,[88] was commissioned by the World Bank Group. The evaluation praised the Doing Business report for its objectivity and focus on regulatory reform. It suggested adding peer-reviewed research papers behind every set of indicators. Subsequently, the World Bank has added one such research article, underlying the indicator on property registration.[89]

Ranking

The last published rankings came from the "Doing Business 2020" report. Ranking of economies was introduced in the "Doing Business 2006" report.[90]

New Zealand topped the Ease of Doing Business rankings in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Singapore topped the Ease of Doing Business rankings in 2007–2016.[91]

One interesting fact is that although richer countries on average are ranked higher than poor countries, there are some remarkable exceptions, particularly oil-rich countries. For example, Kuwait (ranked 83), Qatar (ranked 77), Oman (ranked 68) Saudi Arabia (ranked 62). Compare to lower-income countries: India (ranked 63), Kenya (ranked 56), Colombia (ranked 67), Uzbekistan (ranked 69). Notable exceptions are Norway (ranked 9) and the United Arab Emirates (ranked 16).[92]

China's 2018 ranking, and 2020 rankings of the UAE and Saudi Arabia are alleged to have been artificially strengthened by an internal audit of the rankings.[50] In contrast, Azerbaijan's 2019 ranking is alleged to have been artificially lowered.[50]

Jurisdiction Classification 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006
[93] [94] [95] [96] [97] [98] [99] [100] [101] [102] [103] [104] [105] [106] [107]
 New Zealand Very Easy 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1
 Singapore Very Easy 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
 Hong Kong Very Easy 3 4 5 4 5 3 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 7
 Denmark Very Easy 4 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 7 8
 South Korea Very Easy 5 5 5 4 5 4 5 7 8 8 16 19 23 30 23
 United States Very Easy 6 8 6 8 7 7 4 4 4 5 4 3 3 3 3
 Georgia Very Easy 7 6 9 16 24 15 8 9 16 12 11 15 18 37 100
 United Kingdom Very Easy 8 9 7 7 6 8 10 7 7 4 5 6 6 6 9
 Norway Very Easy 9 7 8 6 9 6 9 6 6 8 10 10 11 9 5
 Sweden Very Easy 10 12 10 9 8 11 14 13 14 14 18 17 14 13 14
 Lithuania Very Easy 11 14 16 21 20 24 17 27 27 23 26 28 26 16 15
 Malaysia Very Easy 12 15 24 23 18 18 6 12 18 21 23 20 24 25 21
 Mauritius Very Easy 13 20 25 49 32 28 20 19 23 20 17 24 27 32 23
 Australia Very Easy 14 18 14 15 13 10 11 10 15 10 9 9 9 8 6
 Taiwan Very Easy 15 13 15 11 11 19 16 16 25 33 46 61 50 47 35
 United Arab Emirates Very Easy 16 11 21 26 31 22 23 26 33 40 33 46 68 77 69
 North Macedonia Very Easy 17 10 11 10 12 30 25 23 22 38 32 71 75 92 81
 Estonia Very Easy 18 16 12 12 16 17 22 21 24 17 24 22 17 17 16
 Latvia Very Easy 19 19 19 14 22 23 24 25 21 24 27 29 22 24 26
 Finland Very Easy 20 17 13 13 10 9 12 11 11 13 16 14 13 14 13
 Thailand Very Easy 21 27 26 46 49 26 18 18 17 19 12 13 15 18 20
 Germany Very Easy 22 24 20 17 15 14 21 20 19 22 25 25 20 21 19
 Canada Very Easy 23 22 18 22 14 16 19 17 13 7 8 8 7 4 4
 Ireland Very Easy 24 23 17 18 17 13 15 15 10 9 7 7 8 10 11
 Kazakhstan Very Easy 25 28 36 35 41 77 50 49 47 59 63 70 71 63 86
 Iceland Very Easy 26 21 23 20 19 12 13 14 9 15 14 11 10 12 12
 Austria Very Easy 27 26 22 19 21 21 30 29 32 32 28 27 25 30 32
 Russia Very Easy 28 31 35 40 51 62 92 112 120 123 120 120 106 96 79
 Japan Very Easy 29 39 34 34 34 29 27 24 20 18 15 12 12 11 10
 Spain Very Easy 30 30 28 32 33 33 52 44 44 49 62 49 38 39 30
 China Very Easy 31 46 78 78 84* 90 96 91 91 79 89 83 83 93 91
 France Very Easy 32 32 31 29 27 31 38 34 29 26 31 31 31 35 44
 Turkey Very Easy 33 43 60 69 55 55 69 71 71 65 73 59 57 91 93
 Azerbaijan Very Easy 34 25 57 65 63 80 70 67 66 54 38 33 96 99 98
 Israel Very Easy 35 49 54 52 53 40 35 38 34 29 29 30 29 26 29
 Switzerland Very Easy 36 38 33 31 26 20 29 28 26 27 21 21 16 15 17
 Slovenia Very Easy 37 40 37 30 29* 51 33 35 37 42 53 54 55 61 63
 Rwanda Very Easy 38 29 41 56 62 46 32 52 45 58 67 139 150 158 139
 Portugal Very Easy 39 34 29 25 23 25 31 30 30 31 48 48 37 40 42
 Poland Very Easy 40 33 27 24 25 32 45 55 62 70 72 76 74 75 54
 Czech Republic Very Easy 41 35 30 27 36 44 75 65 64 63 74 75 56 52 41
 Netherlands Very Easy 42 36 32 28 28 27 28 31 31 30 30 26 21 22 24
 Bahrain Very Easy 43 62 66 63 65 53 46 42 38 28 20 18 — — —
 Serbia Very Easy 44 48 43 48 59 91 93 86 92 89 88 94 86 68 92**
 Slovakia Very Easy 45 42 39 33 29* 37 49 46 48 41 42 36 32 36 37
 Belgium Very Easy 46 45 52 42 43 42 36 33 28 25 22 19 19 20 18
 Armenia Very Easy 47 41 47 38 35 45 37 32 55 48 43 44 39 34 46
 Moldova Very Easy 48 47 44 44 52 63 78 83 81 90 94 103 92 103 83
 Belarus Very Easy 49 37 38 37 44 57 63 58 69 68 58 85 110 129 106
 Montenegro Very Easy 50 50 42 51 46 36 44 51 56 66 71 90 81 70 92**
 Croatia Very Easy 51 58 51 43 40 65 89 84 80 84 103 106 97 124 118
 Hungary Very Easy 52 53 48 41 42 54 54 54 51 46 47 41 45 66 52
 Morocco Very Easy 53 60 69 68 75 71 87 97 94 114 128 128 129 115 102
 Cyprus Easy 54 57 53 45 47 64 39 36 40 37 40 — — — —
 Romania Easy 55 52 45 36 37 48 73 72 72 56 55 47 48 49 78
 Kenya Easy 56 61 80 92 108 136 129 121 109 98 95 82 72 83 68
 Kosovo Easy 57 44 40 60 66 75 86 98 117 119 113 — — — —
 Italy Easy 58 51 46 50 45 56 65 73 87 80 78 65 53 82 70
 Chile Easy 59 56 55 57 48 41 34 37 39 43 49 40 33 28 25
 Mexico Easy 60 54 49 47 38* 39 53 48 53 35 51 56 44 43 73
 Bulgaria Easy 61 59 50 39 38* 38 58 66 59 51 44 45 46 54 62
 Saudi Arabia Easy 62 92 92 94 82 49 26 22 12 11 13 16 23 38 38
 India Easy 63 77 100 130 130 142 134 132 132 134 133 122 120 134 116
 Ukraine Easy 64 71 76 80 83 96 112 137 152 145 142 145 139 128 124
 Puerto Rico Easy 65 64 64 55 57 47 40 41 43 47 35 35 28 19 22
 Brunei Easy 66 55 56 72 84* 101 59 79 83 112 96 88 78 — —
 Colombia Easy 67 65 59 53 54 34 43 45 42 39 37 53 66 79 66
 Oman Easy 68 78 71 66 70 66 47 47 49 57 65 57 49 55 51
 Uzbekistan Easy 69 76 74 87 87 141 146 154 166 150 150 138 138 147 138
 Vietnam Easy 70 69 68 82 90 78 99 99 98 78 93 92 91 104 99
 Jamaica Easy 71 75 70 67 64 58 94 90 88 81 75 63 63 50 43
 Luxembourg Easy 72 66 63 59 61 59 60 56 50 45 64 50 42 — —
 Indonesia Easy 73 73 72 91 109 114 120 128 129 121 122 129 123 135 115
 Costa Rica Easy 74 67 61 62 58 83 102 110 121 125 121 117 115 105 89
 Jordan Easy 75 104 103 118 113 117 119 106 96 111 100 101 80 78 74
 Peru Easy 76 68 58 54 50 35 42 43 41 36 56 62 58 65 71
 Qatar Easy 77 83 83 83 68 50 48 40 36 50 39 37 — — —
 Tunisia Easy 78 80 88 77 74 60 51 50 46 55 69 73 88 80 58
 Greece Easy 79 72 67 61 60 61 72 78 100 109 109 96 100 109 80
 Kyrgyzstan Easy 80 70 77 75 67 102 68 70 70 44 41 68 94 90 84
 Mongolia Easy 81 74 62 64 56 72 76 76 86 73 60 58 52 45 61
 Albania Easy 82 63 65 58 97* 68 90 85 82 82 82 86 136 120 117
 Kuwait Easy 83 97 96 102 101* 86 104 82 67 74 61 52 40 46 47
 South Africa Easy 84 82 82 74 73 43 41 39 35 34 34 32 35 29 28
 Zambia Easy 85 87 85 98 97* 111 83 94 84 76 90 100 116 102 67
 Panama Easy 86 79 79 70 69 52 55 61 61 72 77 81 65 81 57
 Botswana Easy 87 86 81 71 72 74 56 59 54 52 45 38 51 48 40
 Malta Easy 88 84 84 76 80 94 103 102 — — — — — — —
 Bhutan Easy 89 81 75 73 71 125 141 148 142 142 126 124 119 138 104
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Easy 90 89 86 81 79 107 131 126 125 110 116 119 105 95 87
 El Salvador Easy 91 85 73 95 86 109 118 113 112 86 84 72 69 71 76
 San Marino Easy 92 88 93 79 76 93 81 — — — — — — — —
 Saint Lucia Easy 93 93 91 86 77 100 64 53 52 53 36 34 34 27 —
 Nepal Easy 94 110 105 107 99 108 105 108 107 116 123 121 111 100 55
 Philippines Easy 95 124 113 99 103 95 108 138 136 148 144 140 133 126 113
 Guatemala Easy 96 98 97 88 81 73 79 93 97 101 110 112 114 118 109
 Togo Easy 97 137 156 154 150 149 157 156 162 160 165 163 156 151 149
 Samoa Medium 98 90 87 89 96 67 61 57 60 61 57 64 61 41 39
 Sri Lanka Medium 99 100 111 110 107 99 85 81 89 102 105 102 101 89 75
 Seychelles Medium 100 96 95 93 95 85 80 74 103 95 111 104 90 84 —
 Uruguay Medium 101 95 94 90 92 82 88 89 90 124 114 109 98 64 85
 Fiji Medium 102 101 101 97 88* 81 62 60 77 62 54 39 36 31 34
 Tonga Medium 103 91 89 85 78 69 57 62 58 71 52 43 47 51 36
 Namibia Medium 104 107 106 109 101* 88 98 87 78 69 66 51 43 42 33
 Trinidad and Tobago Medium 105 105 102 96 88* 79 66 69 68 97 81 80 67 59 —
 Tajikistan Medium 106 126 123 128 132 166 143 141 147 139 152 159 153 133 —
 Vanuatu Medium 107 94 90 84 94 76 74 80 76 60 59 60 62 58 49
 Pakistan Medium 108 136 147 144 138 128* 110 107 105 83 85 77 76 74 60
 Malawi Medium 109 111 110 133 141 164 171 157 145 133 132 134 127 110 96
 Côte d'Ivoire Medium 110 122 139 142 142 147 167 177 167 169 168 161 155 141 145
 Dominica Medium 111 103 98 101 91 97* 77 68 65 88 83 74 77 72 —
 Djibouti Medium 112 99 154 171 171 155 160 171 170 158 163 153 146 161 —
 Antigua and Barbuda Medium 113 112 107 113 104 89 71 63 57 64 50 42 41 33 —
 Egypt Medium 114 120 128 122 131 112 128 109 110 94 106 114 126 165 141
 Dominican Republic Medium 115 102 99 103 93 84 117 116 108 91 86 97 99 117 103
 Uganda Medium 116 127 122 115 122 150 132 120 123 122 112 111 118 107 72
 Palestine Medium 117 116 114 140 129 143 138 135 131 135 139 131 117 127 125
 Ghana Medium 118 114 120 108 114* 70 67 64 63 67 92 87 87 94 82
 Bahamas Medium 119 118 119 121 106 97* 84 77 85 77 68 55 — — —
 Papua New Guinea Medium 120 108 109 119 145 133 113 104 101 103 102 95 84 57 64
 Eswatini Medium 121 117 112 111 105 110 123 123 124 118 115 108 95 76 —
 Lesotho Medium 122 106 104 100 114* 128* 136 136 143 138 130 123 124 114 97
 Senegal Medium 123 141 140 147 153 161 178 166 154 152 157 149 162 146 132
 Brazil Medium 124 109 125 123 116 120 116 130 126 127 129 125 122 121 119
 Paraguay Medium 125 113 108 106 100 92 109 103 102 106 124 115 103 112 88
 Argentina Medium 126 119 117 116 121 124 126 124 113 115 118 113 109 101 77
 Iran Medium 127 128 124 120 118 130 152 145 144 129 137 142 135 119 108
 Barbados Medium 128 129 132 117 119 106 91 88 — — — — — — —
 Ecuador Medium 129 123 118 114 117 115 135 139 130 130 138 136 128 123 107
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Medium 130 130 129 125 111 103 82 75 75 75 70 66 54 85 —
 Nigeria Medium 131 146 145 169 169 170 147 131 133 137 125 118 108 108 94
 Niger Medium 132 143 144 150 160 168 176 176 173 173 174 172 169 160 150
 Honduras Medium 133 121 115 105 110 104* 127 125 128 131 141 133 121 111 112
 Guyana Medium 134 134 126 124 137 123 115 114 114 100 101 105 104 136 105
 Belize Medium 135 125 121 112 120 118 106 105 93 99 80 78 59 56 —
 Solomon Islands Medium 136 115 116 104 112 87 97 92 74 96 104 89 79 69 53
 Cape Verde Medium 137 131 127 129 126 122 121 122 119 132 146 143 132 125 —
 Mozambique Medium 138 135 138 137 133 127 139 146 139 126 135 141 134 140 110
 Saint Kitts and Nevis Medium 139 140 134 134 124 121 101 96 95 87 76 67 64 44 —
 Zimbabwe Medium 140 155 159 161 155 171 170 173 171 157 159 158 152 153 126
 Tanzania Medium 141 144 137 132 139 131 145 134 127 128 131 127 130 142 140
 Nicaragua Medium 142 132 131 127 125 119 124 119 118 117 117 107 93 67 59
 Lebanon Medium 143 142 133 126 123 104* 111 115 104 113 108 99 85 86 95
 Cambodia Medium 144 138 135 131 127 135 137 133 138 147 145 135 145 143 133
 Palau Medium 146 133 130 136 136 113 100 111 116 120 97 91 82 62 —
 Grenada Medium 147 147 142 138 135 126 107 100 73 92 91 84 70 73 —
 Maldives Medium 148 139 136 135 128 116 95 95 79 85 87 69 60 53 31
 Mali Below Average 149 145 143 141 143* 146 155 151 146 153 156 166 158 155 146
 Benin Below Average 150 153 151 155 158 151 174 175 175 170 172 169 151 137 129
 Bolivia Below Average 151 156 152 149 157 157 162 155 153 149 161 150 140 131 111
 Burkina Faso Below Average 152 151 148 146 143* 167 154 153 150 151 147 148 161 163 154
 Mauritania Below Average 153 148 150 160 168 176 173 167 159 165 166 160 157 148 127
 Marshall Islands Below Average 154 150 149 143 140 139 114 101 106 108 98 93 89 87 48
 Laos Below Average 155 154 141 139 134 148 159 163 165 171 167 165 164 159 147
 Gambia Below Average 156 149 146 145 151 138 150 147 149 146 140 130 131 113 —
 Guinea Below Average 157 152 153 163 165 169 175 178 179 179 173 171 166 157 144
 Algeria Below Average 158 157 166 156 163 154 153 152 148 136 136 132 125 116 128
 Micronesia Below Average 159 160 155 151 148 145 156 150 140 141 127 126 112 106 56
 Ethiopia Below Average 160 159 161 159 146 132 125 127 111 104 107 116 102 97 101
 Comoros Below Average 160 164 158 153 154 159 158 158 157 159 162 155 146 144 —
 Madagascar Below Average 161 161 162 167 164 163 148 142 137 140 134 144 149 149 131
 Suriname Below Average 162 165 165 158 156 162 161 164 158 161 155 146 142 122 —
 Sierra Leone Below Average 163 163 160 148 147 140 142 140 141 143 148 156 160 168 136
 Kiribati Below Average 164 158 157 152 149 134 122 117 115 93 79 79 73 60 45
 Myanmar Below Average 165 172 171 170 167 177 182 — — — — — — — —
 Burundi Below Average 166 168 164 157 152 152 140 159 169 181 176 177 174 166 143
 Cameroon Below Average 167 166 163 166 172 158 168 161 161 168 171 164 154 152 130
 Bangladesh Below Average 168 176 177 176 174 173 130 129 122 107 119 110 107 88 65
 Gabon Below Average 169 169 167 164 162 144 163 170 156 156 158 151 144 132 —
 São Tomé and Príncipe Below Average 170 170 169 162 166 153 169 160 163 178 180 176 163 169 123
 Sudan Below Average 171 162 170 168 159 160 149 143 135 154 154 147 143 154 151
 Iraq Below Average 172 171 168 165 161 156 151 165 164 166 153 152 141 145 114
 Afghanistan Below Average 173 167 183 183 177 183 164 168 160 167 160 162 159 162 122
 Guinea-Bissau Below Average 174 175 176 172 178 179 180 179 176 176 181 179 176 173 —
 Liberia Below Average 175 174 172 174 179 174 144 149 151 155 149 157 170 — —
 Syria Below Average 176 179 174 173 175 175 165 144 134 144 143 137 137 130 121
 Angola Below Average 177 173 175 182 181 181 179 172 172 163 169 168 167 156 135
 Equatorial Guinea Below Average 178 177 173 178 180 165 166 162 155 164 170 165 165 150 —
 Haiti Below Average 179 182 181 181 182 180 177 174 174 162 151 154 148 139 134
 Congo Below Average 180 180 179 177 176 178 185 183 181 177 179 178 175 171 148
 Timor Leste Below Average 181 178 178 175 173 172 172 169 168 174 164 170 168 174 142
 Chad Below Average 182 181 180 180 183 185 189 184 183 183 178 175 173 172 152
 Democratic Republic of Congo Below Average 183 184 182 184 184 184 183 181 178 175 182 181 178 175 155
 Central African Republic Below Average 184 183 184 185 185 187 188 185 182 182 183 180 177 167 153
 South Sudan Below Average 185 185 187 186 187 186 186 — — — — — — — —
 Libya Below Average 186 186 185 188 188 188 187 — — — — — — — —
 Yemen Below Average 187 187 186 179 170 137 133 118 99 105 99 98 113 98 90
 Venezuela Below Average 188 188 188 187 186 182 181 180 177 172 177 174 172 164 120
 Eritrea Below Average 189 189 189 189 189 189 184 182 180 180 175 173 171 170 137
 Somalia Below Average 190 190 190 190 — — — — — — — — — — —

* – same rank is for multiple jurisdictions
** – the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro

Note: Rankings at the time of annual report publication. Rankings are subject to revision.

See also

References

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