Cost of business start-up procedures (% of GNI per capita) - Country Ranking

Definition: Cost to register a business is normalized by presenting it as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) per capita.

Source: World Bank, Doing Business project (http://www.doingbusiness.org/).

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Venezuela 211.80 2019
2 Somalia 198.20 2019
3 Haiti 179.70 2019
4 Chad 169.30 2019
5 Central African Republic 127.80 2019
6 Mozambique 106.90 2019
7 Suriname 93.50 2019
8 Guinea-Bissau 88.80 2019
9 Zimbabwe 76.60 2019
10 Nicaragua 65.70 2019
11 Congo 62.20 2019
12 Equatorial Guinea 59.10 2019
13 Mali 55.10 2019
14 Comoros 54.20 2019
15 Cambodia 53.40 2019
16 Paraguay 52.20 2019
17 The Gambia 49.50 2019
18 Ethiopia 45.40 2019
19 El Salvador 43.30 2019
20 Burkina Faso 42.80 2019
21 Vanuatu 42.50 2019
22 Lebanon 42.30 2019
23 Tanzania 40.60 2019
24 Uganda 40.50 2019
25 Yemen 40.20 2019
26 Djibouti 39.70 2019
27 Bolivia 37.30 2019
28 Kiribati 34.90 2019
29 Belize 34.30 2019
30 Iraq 34.20 2019
31 Zambia 34.00 2019
32 Guinea 33.80 2019
33 Ecuador 33.00 2019
34 Malawi 32.60 2019
35 Madagascar 30.20 2019
36 Honduras 28.10 2019
37 Solomon Islands 27.40 2019
38 Nigeria 26.10 2019
39 Cameroon 24.80 2019
40 Libya 24.60 2019
41 Uruguay 24.10 2019
42 Philippines 23.30 2019
42 Jordan 23.30 2019
44 Senegal 22.60 2019
45 Kenya 22.40 2019
46 Eritrea 21.30 2019
47 Egypt 20.30 2019
48 Nepal 20.20 2019
49 Papua New Guinea 18.60 2019
50 Sudan 17.80 2019
51 Tajikistan 17.50 2019
52 Guatemala 17.30 2019
53 United Arab Emirates 17.20 2019
54 St. Lucia 17.00 2019
55 Dem. Rep. Congo 16.30 2019
56 Mauritania 15.80 2019
57 Dominica 15.20 2019
57 Mexico 15.20 2019
59 Korea 14.60 2019
60 Fiji 14.50 2019
61 Grenada 14.40 2019
62 Colombia 14.10 2019
63 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 13.90 2019
64 Italy 13.80 2019
65 Dominican Republic 13.70 2019
65 Bosnia and Herzegovina 13.70 2019
67 Gabon 13.30 2019
67 Myanmar 13.30 2019
69 Cabo Verde 13.00 2019
70 Seychelles 12.50 2019
71 São Tomé and Principe 12.40 2019
72 Ghana 12.30 2019
72 Burundi 12.30 2019
74 Poland 11.60 2019
75 Algeria 11.30 2019
76 Angola 11.10 2019
76 Malaysia 11.10 2019
78 The Bahamas 11.00 2019
79 Albania 10.80 2019
80 Eswatini 10.70 2019
81 Costa Rica 9.60 2019
82 Guyana 9.40 2019
82 Peru 9.40 2019
84 Namibia 8.90 2019
85 San Marino 8.80 2019
86 Sri Lanka 8.70 2019
86 Bangladesh 8.70 2019
88 Syrian Arab Republic 8.10 2019
88 Togo 8.10 2019
90 Antigua and Barbuda 8.00 2019
91 Niger 7.90 2019
92 Sierra Leone 7.60 2019
93 Japan 7.50 2019
94 Barbados 7.30 2019
95 India 7.20 2019
96 Samoa 6.90 2019
97 Afghanistan 6.80 2019
98 Malta 6.70 2019
98 Pakistan 6.70 2019
100 Germany 6.50 2019
101 Liberia 6.30 2019
101 Qatar 6.30 2019
103 St. Kitts and Nevis 6.20 2019
103 Croatia 6.20 2019
105 Lesotho 6.10 2019
106 Tonga 6.00 2019
106 Turkey 6.00 2019
108 Panama 5.80 2019
109 Indonesia 5.70 2019
110 Cyprus 5.60 2019
110 Vietnam 5.60 2019
112 Saudi Arabia 5.40 2019
113 Belgium 5.30 2019
114 Argentina 5.00 2019
115 Austria 4.70 2019
116 Lao PDR 4.60 2019
117 Hungary 4.50 2019
118 Jamaica 4.20 2019
118 Brazil 4.20 2019
120 Moldova 4.00 2019
120 Netherlands 4.00 2019
122 Spain 3.90 2019
123 Bhutan 3.70 2019
124 Morocco 3.60 2019
125 Benin 3.50 2019
126 North Macedonia 3.10 2019
126 Oman 3.10 2019
128 Thailand 3.00 2019
129 Tunisia 2.90 2019
130 Chile 2.70 2019
130 Côte d'Ivoire 2.70 2019
130 Israel 2.70 2019
133 Serbia 2.30 2019
133 Switzerland 2.30 2019
135 Liechtenstein 2.20 2019
135 Palau 2.20 2019
135 Uzbekistan 2.20 2019
138 Georgia 2.10 2019
139 Iceland 1.90 2019
139 Portugal 1.90 2019
141 Kuwait 1.70 2019
142 Luxembourg 1.60 2019
143 Latvia 1.50 2019
143 Greece 1.50 2019
145 Kyrgyz Republic 1.40 2019
146 Mongolia 1.20 2019
146 Azerbaijan 1.20 2019
146 Montenegro 1.20 2019
146 Puerto Rico 1.20 2019
150 Iran 1.10 2019
150 Czech Republic 1.10 2019
150 China 1.10 2019
150 Brunei 1.10 2019
154 Bulgaria 1.00 2019
154 Estonia 1.00 2019
154 Bahrain 1.00 2019
154 Russia 1.00 2019
154 Slovak Republic 1.00 2019
154 United States 1.00 2019
160 Norway 0.80 2019
160 Armenia 0.80 2019
160 Mauritius 0.80 2019
163 Australia 0.70 2019
163 Finland 0.70 2019
163 France 0.70 2019
163 Timor-Leste 0.70 2019
163 Trinidad and Tobago 0.70 2019
168 Botswana 0.60 2019
169 Hong Kong SAR, China 0.50 2019
169 Belarus 0.50 2019
169 Sweden 0.50 2019
169 Lithuania 0.50 2019
169 Ukraine 0.50 2019
174 Singapore 0.40 2019
175 Romania 0.30 2019
175 Canada 0.30 2019
177 Denmark 0.20 2019
177 New Zealand 0.20 2019
177 Kazakhstan 0.20 2019
177 South Africa 0.20 2019
181 Ireland 0.10 2019
182 United Kingdom 0.00 2019
182 Rwanda 0.00 2019
182 Slovenia 0.00 2019

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Development Relevance: The economic health of a country is measured not only in macroeconomic terms but also by other factors that shape daily economic activity such as laws, regulations, and institutional arrangements. The data measure business regulation, gauge regulatory outcomes, and measure the extent of legal protection of property, the flexibility of employment regulation, and the tax burden on businesses. The fundamental premise of this data is that economic activity requires good rules and regulations that are efficient, accessible to all who need to use them, and simple to implement. Thus sometimes there is more emphasis on more regulation, such as stricter disclosure requirements in related-party transactions, and other times emphasis is on for simplified regulations, such as a one-stop shop for completing business startup formalities. Entrepreneurs may not be aware of all required procedures or may avoid legally required procedures altogether. But where regulation is particularly onerous, levels of informality are higher, which comes at a cost: firms in the informal sector usually grow more slowly, have less access to credit, and employ fewer workers - and those workers remain outside the protections of labor law. The indicator can help policymakers understand the business environment in a country and - along with information from other sources such as the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys - provide insights into potential areas of reform.

Limitations and Exceptions: The Doing Business methodology has limitations that should be considered when interpreting the data. First, the data collected refer to businesses in the economy's largest city and may not represent regulations in other locations of the economy. To address this limitation, subnational indicators are being collected for selected economies. These subnational studies point to significant differences in the speed of reform and the ease of doing business across cities in the same economy. Second, the data often focus on a specific business form - generally a limited liability company of a specified size - and may not represent regulation for other types of businesses such as sole proprietorships. Third, transactions described in a standardized business case refer to a specific set of issues and may not represent the full set of issues a business encounters. Fourth, the time measures involve an element of judgment by the expert respondents. When sources indicate different estimates, the Doing Business time indicators represent the median values of several responses given under the assumptions of the standardized case. Fifth, the methodology assumes that a business has full information on what is required and does not waste time when completing procedures.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Data are collected by the World Bank with a standardized survey that uses a simple business case to ensure comparability across economies and over time - with assumptions about the legal form of the business, its size, its location, and nature of its operation. Surveys are administered through more than 9,000 local experts, including lawyers, business consultants, accountants, freight forwarders, government officials, and other professionals who routinely administer or advise on legal and regulatory requirements. Entrepreneurs around the world face a range of challenges. One of them is inefficient regulation. The indicator measures the procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital required for a small or medium-size limited liability company to start up and formally operate. The Doing Business project of the World Bank encompasses two types of data: data from readings of laws and regulations and data on time and motion indicators that measure efficiency in achieving a regulatory goal. Within the time and motion indicators cost estimates are recorded from official fee schedules where applicable. The data from surveys are subjected to numerous tests for robustness, which lead to revision or expansion of the information collected.

Aggregation method: Unweighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Data are presented for the survey year instead of publication year.