Enforcing Contracts

This topic looks at the efficiency of contract enforcement by following the evolution of a sale of goods dispute and tracking the time, cost, and number of procedures involved from the moment the plaintiff files the lawsuit until actual payment.

The table below shows the three main indicators for enforcing contracts. They are:

number of procedures from the moment the plaintiff files a lawsuit in court until the moment of payment,
time in calendar days to resolve the dispute, and
cost in court fees and attorney fees, where the use of attorneys is mandatory or common, expressed as a percentage of the debt value.

To see the details for a specific economy, use the dropdown box on the right or click on the links below. Click on column headers to sort data.

Export to Excel | Local partners | Methodology

View Topic Details

Research

Courts (PDF, 691KB), by Simeon Djankov and others, Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2003.

Region or Economy	Procedures (number)	Time (days)	Cost (% of claim)
Sub-Saharan Africa	39.2	643.9	49.3
South Asia	43.5	1,052.9	27.2
OECD	30.6	462.4	19.2
Middle East & North Africa	43.4	679.9	23.7
Latin America & Caribbean	39.7	707.0	31.3
Eastern Europe & Central Asia	37.1	450.9	25.6
East Asia & Pacific	37.2	538.1	48.5
Zimbabwe	38	410	32.0
Zambia	35	471	38.7
Yemen, Rep.	36	520	16.5
West Bank and Gaza	44	600	21.2
Vietnam	34	295	28.5
Venezuela, R.B.	29	510	43.7
Vanuatu	30	430	74.7
Uzbekistan	42	195	22.2
Uruguay	40	720	19.0
United States	32	300	14.4
United Kingdom	30	399	23.4
United Arab Emirates	49	537	26.2
Ukraine	30	345	41.5
Uganda	38	510	44.9
Turkey	35	420	18.8
Tunisia	39	565	21.8
Trinidad and Tobago	42	1,340	33.5
Tonga	37	350	30.5
Togo	41	588	47.5
Timor-Leste	51	1,435	163.2
Thailand	35	479	12.3
Tanzania	38	462	14.3
Tajikistan	34	430	25.5
Taiwan, China	47	510	17.7
Syrian Arab Republic	55	872	29.3
Switzerland	31	417	24.0
Sweden	30	508	31.2
Swaziland	40	972	23.1
Suriname	44	1,715	37.1
Sudan	53	810	19.8
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	45	394	30.3
St. Lucia	47	635	37.3
St. Kitts and Nevis	47	578	20.5
Sri Lanka	40	1,318	22.8
Spain	39	515	17.2
South Africa	30	600	33.2
Solomon Islands	37	455	78.9
Slovenia	32	1,290	12.7
Slovak Republic	30	565	30.0
Singapore	21	150	25.8
Sierra Leone	40	515	149.5
Seychelles	38	720	14.3
Serbia	36	635	28.9
Senegal	44	780	26.5
Saudi Arabia	43	635	27.5
São Tomé and Principe	43	1,185	50.5
Samoa	44	455	19.7
Rwanda	24	260	78.7
Russian Federation	37	281	13.4
Romania	31	512	28.9
Qatar	43	570	21.6
Puerto Rico	39	620	24.3
Portugal	31	547	13.0
Poland	38	830	12.0
Philippines	37	842	26.0
Peru	41	428	35.7
Paraguay	38	591	30.0
Papua New Guinea	42	591	110.3
Panama	31	686	50.0
Palau	38	885	35.3
Pakistan	47	976	23.8
Oman	51	598	13.5
Norway	33	280	9.9
Nigeria	39	457	32.0
Niger	39	545	59.6
Nicaragua	35	540	26.8
New Zealand	30	216	22.4
Netherlands	25	514	24.4
Nepal	39	735	26.8
Namibia	33	270	35.8
Mozambique	30	730	142.5
Morocco	40	615	25.2
Montenegro	49	545	25.7
Mongolia	32	314	30.6
Moldova	31	365	20.9
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	34	965	66.0
Mexico	38	415	32.0
Mauritius	36	720	17.4
Mauritania	46	370	23.2
Marshall Islands	36	476	27.4
Mali	36	626	52.0
Maldives	41	665	16.5
Malaysia	30	585	27.5
Malawi	42	432	142.4
Madagascar	38	871	42.4
Macedonia, FYR	37	370	33.1
Luxembourg	26	321	9.7
Lithuania	30	275	23.6
Liberia	41	1,280	35.0
Lesotho	41	695	19.5
Lebanon	37	721	30.8
Latvia	27	309	23.1
Lao PDR	42	443	31.6
Kyrgyz Republic	39	260	29.0
Kuwait	50	566	18.8
Kosovo	53	420	61.2
Korea, Rep.	35	230	10.3
Kiribati	32	660	25.8
Kenya	40	465	47.2
Kazakhstan	38	390	22.0
Jordan	38	689	31.2
Japan	30	360	22.7
Jamaica	35	655	45.6
Italy	40	1,210	29.9
Israel	35	890	25.3
Ireland	20	515	26.9
Iraq	51	520	27.3
Iran, Islamic Rep.	39	520	17.0
Indonesia	39	570	122.7
India	46	1,420	39.6
Iceland	26	417	6.2
Hungary	33	395	13.0
Hong Kong, China	24	280	19.5
Honduras	45	900	35.2
Haiti	35	508	42.6
Guyana	36	581	25.2
Guinea-Bissau	41	1,140	25.0
Guinea	50	276	45.0
Guatemala	31	1,459	26.5
Grenada	47	688	32.6
Greece	39	819	14.4
Ghana	36	487	23.0
Germany	30	394	14.4
Georgia	36	285	29.9
Gambia, the	32	434	37.9
Gabon	38	1,070	34.3
France	29	331	17.4
Finland	32	375	10.4
Fiji	34	397	38.9
Ethiopia	37	620	15.2
Estonia	36	425	26.3
Eritrea	39	405	22.6
Equatorial Guinea	40	553	18.5
El Salvador	30	786	19.2
Egypt, Arab Rep.	41	1,010	26.2
Ecuador	39	588	27.2
Dominican Republic	34	460	40.9
Dominica	47	681	36.0
Djibouti	40	1,225	34.0
Denmark	34	380	23.3
Czech Republic	27	611	33.0
Cyprus	43	735	16.4
Croatia	38	561	13.8
Côte d'Ivoire	33	770	41.7
Costa Rica	40	852	24.3
Congo, Rep.	44	560	53.2
Congo, Dem. Rep.	43	625	151.8
Comoros	43	506	89.4
Colombia	34	1,346	52.6
China	34	406	11.1
Chile	36	480	28.6
Chad	41	743	77.4
Central African Republic	43	660	82.0
Cape Verde	37	425	21.8
Canada	36	570	22.3
Cameroon	43	800	46.6
Cambodia	44	401	102.7
Burundi	44	832	38.6
Burkina Faso	37	446	83.0
Bulgaria	39	564	23.8
Brunei Darussalam	58	540	36.6
Brazil	45	616	16.5
Botswana	29	687	28.0
Bosnia and Herzegovina	38	595	38.4
Bolivia	40	591	33.2
Bhutan	47	225	0.1
Benin	42	825	64.7
Belize	51	892	27.5
Belgium	25	505	16.6
Belarus	28	225	23.4
Bangladesh	41	1,442	63.3
Bahrain	48	635	14.7
Bahamas, the	49	427	28.9
Azerbaijan	39	237	18.5
Austria	25	397	18.0
Australia	28	395	20.7
Armenia	48	285	19.0
Argentina	36	590	16.5
Antigua and Barbuda	45	351	22.7
Angola	46	1,011	44.4
Algeria	46	630	21.9
Albania	39	390	38.7
Afghanistan	47	1,642	25.0

The Doing Business project...

Enforcing Contracts

View Topic Details

Research