Doing 
Business 
2020
Comparing Business 
        Regulation in 
190 Economies
Doing
Business 
2020
Comparing Business 
        Regulation in 
               190 Economies
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Attribution—Please cite the work as follows: World Bank. 2020. Doing Business 2020. Washington, 
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ISBN (paper): 978-1-4648-1440-2
ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-1441-9
DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-1440-2
Cover design: Bill Pragluski, Critical Stages
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019951789
Resources on the 
Doing Business website
Current features
News on the Doing Business project 
http://www.doingbusiness.org
Historical data
Customized data sets since DB2004  
http://www.doingbusiness.org/custom-query
Law library
Online collection of business laws and 
regulations relating to business  
http://www.doingbusiness.org/law-library
Contributors
More than 15,000 specialists in 
190  economies who participate in  
Doing Business 
http://www.doingbusiness.org/contributors 
/doing-business
Entrepreneurship data
Data on new business density (number 
of newly registered companies per 1,000 
working-age people) for 156 economies 
http://www.doingbusiness.org/data 
/exploretopics/entrepreneurship
Ease of doing business score
Data benchmarking 190 economies to 
the best regulatory practice and an ease 
of doing business score calculator 
https://www.doingbusiness.org/data 
/doing-business-score
Rankings
How economies rank—from 1 to 190  
http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings 
Data
All the data for 190 economies—topic 
rankings, indicator values, lists of  
regulatory procedures and details 
underlying indicators  
http://www.doingbusiness.org/data 
Studies 
Access to previous editions of Doing 
Business as well as subnational and 
 regional studies, case studies and 
customized economy and regional profiles 
http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports 
Methodology 
The methodologies and research papers 
underlying Doing Business 
http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology
Research
Abstracts of papers on Doing Business 
topics and related policy issues 
http://www.doingbusiness.org/research
Doing Business reforms 
Short summaries of DB2020 business 
regulation reforms and lists of reforms 
since DB2006 
http://www.doingbusiness.org/reforms
iii
Contents
  vii  Foreword
 
 
ix  Acknowledgments
1  Overview 
Tackling burdensome regulation
  17  Chapter 1 
About Doing Business
  29  Chapter 2 
The effects of business regulation
  41  Chapter 3 
Removing obstacles to entrepreneurship
  57  Chapter 4 
Employing workers
  67  Chapter 5 
Contracting with the government
  77  Chapter 6 
Ease of doing business score and ease of doing business ranking
  87  Chapter 7 
Summaries of Doing Business reforms in 2018/19
 129  Chapter 8 
References
  Doing Business 2020 is the 17th in a 
series of annual studies investigating 
the regulations that enhance 
business activity and those that 
constrain it. Doing Business presents 
quantitative indicators on business 
regulations and the protection 
of property rights that can be 
compared across 190 economies—
from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and 
over time.
  Regulations affecting 12 areas of 
the life of a business are covered: 
starting a business, dealing with 
construction permits, getting 
electricity, registering property, 
getting credit, protecting minority 
investors, paying taxes, trading 
across borders, enforcing contracts, 
resolving insolvency, employing 
workers, and contracting with the 
government. The employing workers 
and contracting with the government 
indicator sets are not included in this 
year’s ranking on the ease of doing 
business.
  Data in Doing Business 2020 are 
current as of May 1, 2019. The 
indicators are used to analyze 
economic outcomes and identify 
what reforms of business regulation 
have worked, where and why.
v