Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All, a World Bank Group flagship publication, is the 14th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time.

Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures labor market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking.

Data in Doing Business 2017 are current as of June 1, 2016. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.

Highlights:

• New Zealand is first on ease of doing business among 190 economies
• Entrepreneurs in 137 economies saw improvements in regulatory framework
• Paying taxes topic now includes postfiling processes—such as tax refunds, tax audits and administrative tax appeals
• Doing Business adds gender dimension in three of the 10 topics included in the ease of doing business ranking: starting a business, registering property and enforcing contracts

View main findings | Download report (PDF, 9MB)