Doing Business 2014 Regional Profile : Europe and Central Asia

Abstract

This regional profile presents the Doing
 Business indicators for economies in Europe and Central Asia
 (ECA). It also shows the regional average, the best
 performance globally for each indicator and data for the
 following comparator regions: European Union, Latin America,
 East Asia and the Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, and
 OECD High Income. The data in this report are current as of
 June 1, 2013, except for the paying taxes indicators, which
 cover the period January to December 2012. Regional Doing
 Business reports capture differences in business regulations
 and their enforcement across countries in a single region.
 They provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each
 location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in
 each of the indicator areas. The report sheds light on how
 easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur to open and
 run a small to medium-size business when complying with
 relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in
 regulations affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a
 business: starting a business, dealing with construction
 permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting
 credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across
 borders, enforcing contracts, resolving insolvency and
 employing workers. Doing Business presents quantitative
 indicators on business regulations and the protection of
 property rights that can be compared across 189 economies,
 from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. The data set covers
 47 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, 33 in Latin America and
 the Caribbean, 25 in East Asia and the Pacific, 25 in
 Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 20 in the Middle East and
 North Africa and 8 in South Asia, as well as 31 OECD
 high-income economies. The indicators are used to analyze
 economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked,
 where and why.