The entire dataset, covering 2003 to 2007, is available free of charge on this website. The Doing Business 2008 report contains the 2007 dataset along with detailed analysis. You can order the report through the World Bank's publications office or from Amazon.com. 

The Ease of Doing Business Index ranks economies from 1 to 178. The index is calculated as the ranking on the simple average of country percentile rankings on each of the 10 topics covered in Doing Business 2008. The ranking on each topic is the simple average of the percentile rankings on its component indicators.

One example: The ranking on starting a business is the average of the country percentile rankings on the procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital requirement to register a business. In Iceland it takes 5 procedures, 5 days and 3% of annual income per capita in fees to open a business. The minimum capital required amounts to 14% of income per capita. On these 4 indicators Iceland ranks in the 6th, 2nd, 10th and 55th percentiles. So on average, Iceland ranks in the 18th percentile -- the average of the 4 percentiles -- on the ease of starting a business. It ranks in the 46th percentile on protecting investors, 11th on trading across borders, 8th on enforcing contracts, 6th on closing a business and so on. Higher ranks indicate simpler regulation and stronger protections of property rights. The simple average of Iceland’s percentile rankings on all topics is 19%. When all countries are ordered by their average percentile rank, Iceland is in 10th place.

The Doing Business team can prepare upon request economy profile reports for $1200 per copy (download sample reports). The reports include information on all Doing Business indicators and provide comparisons with other countries/regions. Economy profile reports, available in electronic or paper format, are produced in about five days. Contact Doing Business to place an order.

The new economies are: Brunei, Liberia, and Luxembourg.

The methodology for three of the Doing Business topics -- dealing with licenses, employing workers and enforcing contracts -- improved this year. For dealing with licenses, three changes were made. First, the case study now applies to builders that are fully licensed and insured at the start of the project. As a result, procedures that involve insuring or licensing the construction business are no longer counted. Second, inspections are now assumed to take one day to complete even where there is a delay between the request for an inspection and its occurrence. This change was made to eliminate discretion in interpreting the time that respondents report for inspections. Third, preconstruction inspections were added to the list of procedures; these affect mainly countries in the former Soviet Union. The first two changes reduce the number of procedures and delays associated with the case study; the third increases them.

For employing workers, improvements were made to align the Doing Business methodology with International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. It is now possible for an economy to receive the highest score on the ease of employing workers -- indicating the most flexible labor regulations -- and comply with all 187 ILO conventions. Two main changes were made. First, the calculation of firing costs was modified so that eight or fewer weeks of salary now receives a score of 0 for purposes of calculating the rankings on the ease of employing workers. Second, restrictions on night work such as higher overtime premiums or limitations on scheduling work hours are no longer coded as rigidities. Both changes result in more flexibility in employment regulations as coded in Doing Business.

For enforcing contracts, the list of procedures was revised to accommodate procedural differences between civil and common law. For example, in civil law countries the judge appoints an independent expert, while in common law countries parties send the court a list of their expert witnesses. Two assumptions were added, on attaching the defendant’s goods prior to judgment and on providing expert opinions. To indicate the overall efficiency of court procedures, one procedure is now subtracted for countries that have specialized commercial courts and one procedure for countries that allow electronic filing of court cases. Finally, the cost indicator now includes all fees for enforcing judgments.

The Doing Business dataset covers 178 countries. These include all economies with populations over 1.5 million except for countries that are not World Bank Group members or some countries that are or recently have been in a military conflict or where data is unavailable. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland funded the expansion of the dataset to 20 small economies.

The study of laws and regulations is only the first step in the analysis conducted by the Doing Business team. The second step is verification and input from local government officials, lawyers, business consultants, and other professionals with hands-on experience with administering or advising on legal and regulatory requirements. Therefore, the data presented by Doing Business reflects the actual requirements and costs that businesses face, rather than a simple description of written laws and regulations.

Existing surveys and analyst polls are usually perception-based and target large institutional investors, executives of multinational corporations, and global lenders. The indicators presented and analyzed in Doing Business take a new approach. They are based on factual information concerning laws and regulations in force. The focus is on domestic, primarily small- and medium-size, companies. The methodology builds on extensive and detailed information on regulations, which helps governments identify specific problems and design reforms. The data collection process is transparent and easily replicable -- allowing broad country coverage, annual updates, and ready extension to new locations.

The following document details how economies are classified (Excel, 45KB).

The Doing Business methodology has six standard features to ensure quality. First, the team, with academic advisors, collects and analyzes the laws and regulations in force. Second, the analysis yields an assessment instrument or questionnaire that is designed for local professionals experienced in their fields, such as lawyers and business consultants. Third, the questionnaire is structured around a hypothetical case to ensure comparability across countries and over time. Fourth, the local experts engage in several rounds -- typically four -- of interaction (through conference calls, emails) with the Doing Business team. Fifth, the preliminary results are presented to academics and practitioners, prior to refinements in the questionnaire and further rounds of data collection. And finally, the data are subjected to numerous tests for robustness, which frequently lead to revisions or expansions of the collected information. This methodology offers several advantages. It is based on factual information and allows multiple interactions with the respondent, ensuring accuracy by clarifying possible misinterpretations of the survey questions. The result is a set of detailed and high-quality indicators.

The Doing Business project is grateful for the generous contribution of more than 5,000 lawyers, accountants, freight forwarders, architects and public officials who serve as Local Partners in 178 economies. To become a local partner, email rru@worldbank.org today. Please include your name, contact information, expertise and the countries for which you would be willing to complete a questionnaire. A member of the Doing Business team will contact you shortly.

This year's report, Doing Business 2008, can be purchased from the World Bank publications Web site or on Amazon.com. Previous reports -- Doing Business in 2007: How to Reform, Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs, Doing Business in 2005: Removing Obstacles to Growth, and Doing Business in 2004: Understanding Regulation, are available for purchase in a hard-copy format from the World Bank's publications Web site.

The analysis in Doing Business has direct relevance for policy reform. It reveals the relationship between business regulation indicators and economic and social outcomes, allowing policymakers to see how particular laws and regulations are associated with poverty, corruption, employment, access to credit, the size of the informal economy, and the entry of new firms. Also, the analysis provides guidance on the design of reforms. The data offer a wealth of detail on the specific regulations and institutions that enhance or hinder business activity, the biggest bottlenecks causing bureaucratic delay, and the cost of complying with regulations. Governments can identify, after reviewing their country's Doing Business indicators, where they lag behind and what to reform.

What works in developed countries often works well in developing countries, too, defying the often-used saying, "one size doesn't fit all." But reform options are not always the same across rich and poor countries. In such instances, developing countries could simplify the models used in rich countries to make them workable with less capacity and fewer resources. Moreover, the good practice examples presented in the Doing Business report are not limited to rich countries or countries where comprehensive regulatory reform has taken place. The report provides many examples of successful reforms in developing countries in some areas of business regulation.

The Doing Business 2009 report will include research on three new topics: transparency, opportunities for women, and infrastructure (starting with electricity).

Policymakers, the aid community, investors, and researchers use Doing Business indicators and analysis to:

• compare countries on their regulatory environment for business,
• assess the impact of laws and regulations on business activity,
• make informed decisions regarding policy reform and private investment,
• identify best practices in regulatory reform, and
• support research on institutions and regulation.