The Doing Business Report 2015

DOING BUSINESS: GOING BEYOND EFFICIENCY Local entrepreneurs can thrive in economies where business regulation combines efficiency and quality. CLOSING THE GAP |+| IN 2013/14, Sub-Saharan 10 Africa accounted for the |YEARS OVER PAST largest number of business regulatory reforms: AFRICA, 75@ the region with the most burdensome Economies with the most cumbersome business business regulations, is ACTIVELY REFORMING. regulations have been gradually catching up by adopting some of the better practices seen among the best performers. OF 230 REGULATORY REFORMS WORLDWIDE ENTREPRENEURS BENEFIT && Reforms in business regulation help entrepreneurs use their time and resources efficiently. Number of economies where it's possible to START BUSINESS IN LESS In 2005: 41 In 2014: 127 YEARS AGO, dealing with construction permits to build a warehouse took 143 DAYS for a businesswoman in Nepal. Today, it takes 86 DAYS THAN 20 DAYS: 10 YEARS AGO, 100 NOW takes only 6 DAYS OPEN importing key inputs from overseas took 48 DAYS for a Colombian entrepreneur; now, it takes only 13 DAYS. YEARS AGO, starting a business took 57 DAYS for an entrepreneur in Senegal. just 1 MORE DAY than in Norway. DOING BUSINESS IS GETTING EASIER AROUND THE WORLD O Globally, a great majority of the 189 ECONOMIES Covered by Doing Business MORE had an improvement in their distance to frontier score* over the past year. 80% % IMPROVED TO FRONTIER SCORE DISTANCE THAN * The distance to frontier score shows how close each economy is to global best practices in business regulation. A higher score indicates a more efficient business environment and stronger legal institutions. DOINGBUSINESS.ORG WORLD BANK GROUP