Starting a Business

Doing Business measures the procedures, time and cost for a small to medium-size limited liability company to start up and operate formally. To make the data comparable across 185 economies, Doing Business uses a standardized business that is 100% domestically owned, has start-up capital equivalent to 10 times income per capita, engages in general industrial or commercial activities and employs between 10 and 50 people within the first month of operations. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2012. Read the methodology.

Use the tabs to view Starting a Business data and analysis, reform summaries, frequent questions and related resources. Click on economy name for detailed information. Click on column headers to sort.

= Subnational Doing Business data available.

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About Doing Business

The data and analysis appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small to medium-sized domestic business in 185 economies.

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Economy ▲	Starting a Business rank	The total number of procedures required to register a firm. A procedure is defined as any interaction of the company founders with external parties (for example, government agencies, lawyers, auditors or notaries). More informationProcedures (number)	The total number of days required to register a firm. The measure captures the median duration that incorporation lawyers indicate is necessary to complete a procedure with minimum follow-up with government agencies and no extra payments. More informationTime (days)	Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. It includes all official fees and fees for legal or professional services if such services are required by law. More informationCost (% of income per capita)	The amount that the entrepreneur needs to deposit in a bank or with a notary before registration and up to 3 months following incorporation and is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. More informationPaid-in Min. Capital (% of income per capita)
East Asia & Pacific	..	7	36	22.4	13.4
Eastern Europe & Central Asia	..	6	14	6.8	5.0
Latin America & Caribbean	..	9	53	33.7	3.7
Middle East & North Africa	..	8	23	29.8	72.3
OECD high income	..	5	12	4.5	13.3
South Asia	..	7	19	21.6	17.8
Sub-Saharan Africa	..	8	34	67.3	116.0
Afghanistan	28	4	7	22.5	0.0
Albania	62	4	4	22.1	0.0
Algeria	156	14	25	12.1	27.2
Angola	171	8	68	105.4	24.6
Antigua and Barbuda	85	8	21	10.9	0.0
Argentina	154	14	26	12.3	5.7
Armenia	11	3	8	2.5	0.0
Australia	2	2	2	0.7	0.0
Austria	134	8	25	4.9	49.1
Azerbaijan	18	6	8	2.3	0.0
Bahamas, The	82	7	31	10.3	0.0
Bahrain	88	7	9	0.7	229.9
Bangladesh	95	7	19	25.1	0.0
Barbados	70	8	18	7.2	0.0
Belarus	9	5	5	2.3	0.0
Belgium	44	3	4	5.2	18.2
Belize	158	9	44	51.9	0.0
Benin	153	5	26	126.8	264.5
Bhutan	94	8	36	6.5	0.0
Bolivia	174	15	50	74.1	1.9
Bosnia and Herzegovina	162	11	37	14.9	29.1
Botswana	99	10	61	1.6	0.0
Brazil	121	13	119	4.8	0.0
Brunei Darussalam	135	15	101	10.7	0.0
Bulgaria	57	4	18	1.1	0.0
Burkina Faso	120	3	13	46.8	353.9
Burundi	28	4	8	18.3	0.0
Cambodia	175	9	85	100.5	28.5
Cameroon	125	5	15	35.8	168.3
Canada	3	1	5	0.4	0.0
Cape Verde	129	8	11	14.9	34.2
Central African Republic	170	8	22	172.6	444.1
Chad	181	9	62	202.0	289.4
Chile	32	7	8	4.5	0.0
China	151	13	33	2.1	85.7
Colombia	61	8	13	7.3	0.0
Comoros	168	9	20	150.0	261.9
Congo, Dem. Rep.	149	10	58	284.7	0.0
Congo, Rep.	180	11	161	55.3	80.5
Costa Rica	128	12	60	11.4	0.0
Côte d'Ivoire	176	10	32	130.0	184.6
Croatia	80	6	9	7.3	13.4
Cyprus	37	6	8	12.4	0.0
Czech Republic	140	9	20	8.2	29.7
Denmark	33	4	6	0.2	24.2
Djibouti	185	11	37	150.7	383.6
Dominica	46	5	13	15.4	0.0
Dominican Republic	137	7	19	17.3	49.3
Ecuador	169	13	56	29.9	4.5
Egypt, Arab Rep.	26	6	7	10.2	0.0
El Salvador	139	8	17	46.7	2.9
Equatorial Guinea	182	18	135	98.2	11.7
Eritrea	183	13	84	52.3	203.1
Estonia	47	5	7	1.6	22.1
Ethiopia	163	9	15	135.3	249.1
Fiji	138	11	58	24.0	0.0
Finland	49	3	14	1.0	7.0
France	27	5	7	0.9	0.0
Gabon	157	9	58	14.5	22.3
Gambia, The	123	8	27	158.7	0.0
Georgia	7	2	2	3.8	0.0
Germany	106	9	15	4.9	0.0
Ghana	112	7	12	18.5	4.3
Greece	146	11	11	20.5	24.4
Grenada	65	6	15	19.1	0.0
Guatemala	172	12	40	48.1	20.9
Guinea	158	6	35	96.9	324.7
Guinea-Bissau	148	9	9	42.2	338.0
Guyana	89	8	20	13.9	0.0
Haiti	183	12	105	286.6	21.0
Honduras	155	13	14	45.9	15.7
Hong Kong SAR, China	6	3	3	1.9	0.0
Hungary	52	4	5	8.9	9.4
Iceland	45	5	5	3.0	11.5
India	173	12	27	49.8	140.1
Indonesia	166	9	47	22.7	42.0
Iran, Islamic Rep.	87	7	13	3.3	0.5
Iraq	177	10	74	81.1	25.2
Ireland	10	4	10	0.3	0.0
Israel	41	5	21	4.0	0.0
Italy	84	6	6	16.5	9.7
Jamaica	21	6	7	6.7	0.0
Japan	114	8	23	7.5	0.0
Jordan	103	7	12	13.8	0.0
Kazakhstan	25	6	19	0.6	0.0
Kenya	126	10	32	40.4	0.0
Kiribati	145	7	31	22.3	21.3
Korea, Rep.	24	5	7	14.6	0.0
Kosovo	126	9	52	23.0	0.0
Kuwait	142	12	32	1.1	56.7
Kyrgyz Republic	15	2	10	2.8	0.0
Lao PDR	81	6	92	7.1	0.0
Latvia	59	4	16	2.3	0.0
Lebanon	114	5	9	67.0	35.2
Lesotho	79	7	24	13.0	0.0
Liberia	38	4	6	52.7	0.0
Lithuania	107	7	20	1.1	31.3
Luxembourg	93	6	19	1.9	20.9
Macedonia, FYR	5	2	2	1.9	0.0
Madagascar	17	2	8	10.8	0.0
Malawi	141	10	39	83.7	0.0
Malaysia	54	3	6	15.1	0.0
Maldives	63	5	9	6.7	2.2
Mali	118	4	8	86.2	331.9
Malta	150	11	40	8.9	1.5
Marshall Islands	48	5	17	13.6	0.0
Mauritania	160	9	19	47.6	327.9
Mauritius	14	5	6	3.3	0.0
Mexico	36	6	9	10.1	0.0
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.	104	7	16	144.2	0.0
Moldova	92	7	9	5.7	8.7
Mongolia	39	7	12	2.4	0.0
Montenegro	58	6	10	1.6	0.0
Morocco	56	6	12	15.5	0.0
Mozambique	96	9	13	19.7	0.0
Namibia	133	10	66	18.5	0.0
Nepal	105	7	29	33.0	0.0
Netherlands	67	5	5	5.1	49.4
New Zealand	1	1	1	0.4	0.0
Nicaragua	131	8	39	100.6	0.0
Niger	167	9	17	112.8	572.8
Nigeria	119	8	34	60.4	0.0
Norway	43	5	7	1.7	5.4
Oman	73	5	8	2.6	223.1
Pakistan	98	10	21	9.9	0.0
Palau	130	8	28	5.2	13.8
Panama	23	6	7	8.8	0.0
Papua New Guinea	91	6	51	13.6	0.0
Paraguay	111	7	35	46.8	0.0
Peru	60	5	26	10.6	0.0
Philippines	161	16	36	18.1	4.8
Poland	124	6	32	14.4	13.0
Portugal	31	5	5	2.3	0.0
Puerto Rico (U.S.)	12	6	6	0.9	0.0
Qatar	109	8	9	4.9	60.7
Romania	68	6	10	2.8	0.8
Russian Federation	101	8	18	2.0	1.4
Rwanda	8	2	3	4.3	0.0
Samoa	20	4	9	9.5	0.0
São Tomé and Príncipe	100	4	7	19.1	285.8
Saudi Arabia	78	9	21	5.0	0.0
Senegal	102	3	5	64.4	192.3
Serbia	42	6	12	7.7	0.0
Seychelles	117	10	39	14.3	0.0
Sierra Leone	76	6	12	80.4	0.0
Singapore	4	3	3	0.6	0.0
Slovak Republic	83	6	16	1.8	21.3
Slovenia	30	2	6	0.0	43.9
Solomon Islands	75	7	9	47.9	0.0
South Africa	53	5	19	0.3	0.0
Spain	136	10	28	4.7	13.2
Sri Lanka	33	5	7	19.1	0.0
St. Kitts and Nevis	69	7	19	9.1	0.0
St. Lucia	51	5	15	17.8	0.0
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	64	7	10	17.9	0.0
Sudan	122	10	36	20.0	0.0
Suriname	178	13	694	110.9	0.4
Swaziland	165	12	56	24.1	0.4
Sweden	54	3	16	0.5	13.2
Switzerland	97	6	18	2.1	26.3
Syrian Arab Republic	132	7	13	15.6	122.6
Taiwan, China	16	3	10	2.4	0.0
Tajikistan	77	5	24	27.1	0.0
Tanzania	113	9	26	28.2	0.0
Thailand	85	4	29	6.7	0.0
Timor-Leste	147	8	94	2.9	126.6
Togo	164	6	38	119.4	365.6
Tonga	35	4	16	8.3	0.0
Trinidad and Tobago	71	8	41	0.7	0.0
Tunisia	66	10	11	4.1	0.0
Turkey	72	6	6	10.5	7.2
Uganda	144	15	33	76.7	0.0
Ukraine	50	7	22	1.5	0.0
United Arab Emirates	22	6	8	6.0	0.0
United Kingdom	19	6	13	0.7	0.0
United States	13	6	6	1.4	0.0
Uruguay	39	5	7	24.3	0.0
Uzbekistan	90	6	12	3.8	27.4
Vanuatu	116	8	35	47.2	0.0
Venezuela, RB	152	17	144	27.7	0.0
Vietnam	108	10	34	8.7	0.0
West Bank and Gaza	179	11	48	91.0	206.7
Yemen, Rep.	110	6	40	71.9	0.0
Zambia	74	6	17	26.6	0.0
Zimbabwe	143	9	90	107.0	0.0

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