In 2013/14, 123 economies implemented at least one reform in the areas measured by Doing Business—230 reforms in total. Twenty-one economies, including 6 in Sub-Saharan Africa and 6 in the OECD high-income group, implemented 3 or more reforms reducing burdensome bureaucracy or improving legal and regulatory frameworks. Of these 21 economies, 10 stand out as having narrowed the distance to frontier the most: Tajikistan, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, Congo, Dem. Rep., Azerbaijan, Ireland and United Arab Emirates.

Note: Economies are selected on the basis of the number of their reforms and ranked on how much their distance to frontier score improved. First, Doing Business selects the economies that implemented reforms making it easier to do business in 3 or more of the 10 topics included in this year’s aggregate distance to frontier score. Regulatory changes making it more difficult to do business are subtracted from the number of those making it easier. Second, Doing Business ranks these economies on the improvement in their distance to frontier score from the previous year. The improvement in their score is calculated not by using the data published in 2013 but by using comparable data that capture data revisions and methodology changes. The choice of the most improved economies is determined by the largest improvements in the distance to frontier score among those with at least 3 reforms.

Europe and Central Asia had both the largest share of economies making it easier to do business in 2013/14...

...and the biggest average improvement in distance to frontier scores