Document: Doing Business 2012

Doing business in a more transparent world - Comparing Regulation for Domestic Firms in 183 Countries

Doing Business 2012 is the ninth in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulation and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - and over time.

Regulations aff ecting 11 areas of the life of a business are covered: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency (formerly closing a business) and employing workers. The employing workers data are not included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business.

Data in Doing Business 2012 are current as of June 1, 2011. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why. Chapters exploring these issues for each of the 11 Doing Business topics - as well as showing global trends - are  being published online this year. The chapters are available on the Doing Business website at www.doingbusiness.org.