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Metadata Glossary

CodeIC.BUS.EASE.XQ
Indicator NameEase of doing business index (1=most business-friendly regulations)
Long definitionEase of doing business ranks economies from 1 to 190, with first place being the best. A high ranking (a low numerical rank) means that the regulatory environment is conducive to business operation. The index averages the country's percentile rankings on 10 topics covered in the World Bank's Doing Business. The ranking on each topic is the simple average of the percentile rankings on its component indicators.
SourceWorld Bank, Doing Business project (http://www.doingbusiness.org/).
TopicPrivate Sector & Trade: Business environment
PeriodicityAnnual
Limitations and exceptionsThe 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.
General commentsData are presented for the survey year instead of publication year. Data before 2013 are not comparable with data from 2013 onward due to methodological changes.
License TypeCC BY-4.0
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