The annual report of the World Bank is announcing a record level of the number of business regulation reforms in the world. Between June 2008 and May 2009, 287 reforms were recorded in 131 economies, 20% more than the year before.The good news are that “reformers focused on making it easier to start and operate a business, strengthening property rights and improving the efficiency of commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures”, as one can read in the report. Eastern Europe was one of the more active regions. Here is the ranking of the 27 European countries:
Doing Business in Europe
| Country |
Ease of doing business rank |
| United Kingdom | 5 |
| Denmark | 6 |
| Ireland | 7 |
| Finland | 16 |
| Sweden | 18 |
| Belgium | 22 |
| Estonia | 24 |
| Germany | 25 |
| Lithuania | 26 |
| Latvia | 27 |
| Austria | 28 |
| Netherlands | 30 |
| France | 31 |
| Cyprus | 40 |
| Slovakia | 42 |
| Bulgaria | 44 |
| Hungary | 47 |
| Portugal | 48 |
| Slovenia | 53 |
| Romania | 55 |
| Spain | 62 |
| Luxembourg | 64 |
| Poland | 72 |
| Czech Republic | 74 |
| Italy | 78 |
| Greece | 109 |
| Malta | N.A |
Source: World Bank, Doing Business 2010
(Ranking 1-183, 1= best)
