Business climate: 54 countries compared

Where would a company rather set up: in a country with quick permits, firm courts, moderate taxes, cheap credit and power, and an economy that is picking up speed? We scored all 54 Nestlyzer countries on exactly those six things.

The short version. Singapore, Denmark and Canada lead the table; India, China and Brazil close it. No country tops every column: Singapore on red tape, New Zealand on rule of law, United Arab Emirates on business taxes, Israel on cost of capital.

Country	Climate	Red tape	Rule of law	Business taxes	Cost of capital	Energy prices	Momentum
Singapore	82	95	68	86	83	–	82 3
2 Denmark	78	91 3	93 2	70	–	75	49
3 Canada	71	67	83	67	86 3	–	53
Norway	71	90	84	55	46	100 2	41
Finland	70	79	89	58	–	100	24
Switzerland	69	67	85	70	75	–	38
Liechtenstein	69	67	85	85	75	39	38
Ireland	68	78	80	88 3	–	0	53
United Kingdom	67	88	72	56	–	–	47
New Zealand	67	69	94	56	75	–	27
Croatia	66	69	47	80	–	57	80
Australia	66	91 2	90 3	26	64	–	45
Latvia	65	81	72	64	–	69	31
South Korea	64	85	64	61	67	–	38
Estonia	64	84	87	49	–	63	20
Lithuania	64	85	66	61	–	51	44
United States	64	70	74	41	88 2	–	53
United Arab Emirates	63	79	27	100	–	–	52
Hong Kong	63	69	48	83	51	–	62
Bulgaria	62	47	47	90 2	81	63	58
Sweden	62	59	79	53	–	90 3	33
North Macedonia	62	70	32	85	72	75	54
Israel	59	55	57	54	89	–	53
Spain	58	63	64	34	–	69	62
Portugal	57	70	56	37	–	69	58
Czechia	57	72	69	46	70	39	32
Luxembourg	55	47	74	71	–	45	22
Taiwan	55	17	74	69	–	–	–
Albania	54	59	31	69	45	–	74
Netherlands	54	79	71	43	–	26	26
Slovenia	53	62	47	58	–	57	43
Serbia	53	72	23	64	–	57	61
Japan	53	57	70	27	82	–	34
Iceland	52	43	64	63	27	–	49
Romania	52	64	50	67	57	33	32
Greece	51	71	41	38	–	45	64
Malaysia	51	57	39	48	48	–	67
Cyprus	50	46	48	81	–	0	53
France	50	77	67	0	–	57	45
Poland	50	51	54	53	–	33	46
Belgium	49	62	69	20	–	33	45
Germany	47	66	79	24	–	10	24
Italy	47	68	48	30	65	14	51
Austria	47	55	67	35	–	26	30
Slovakia	46	66	52	39	–	20	35
Malta	42	26	33	18	–	69	91
Hungary	41	52	36	62	52	20	11
Morocco	38	55	9	–	–	–	65
Indonesia	38	22	20	63	23	–	65
Mexico	35	56	22	20	31	–	50
South Africa	32	10	40	54	2	–	40
India	31	8	23	27	25	–	87 2
China	30	28	12	19	52	–	61
Brazil	19	0	32	0	0	–	59

Climate = red tape 20%, rule of law 25%, business taxes 20%, cost of capital 10%, energy prices 10%, momentum 15%. Each kind of company site weighs them differently (a data centre cares most about power prices, a headquarters about taxes and legal certainty); the site pages and the app use that site's own mix. A dash means no comparable figure yet; that driver then counts as the median country.

What sits behind each column

Red tape and ease of doing business: Regulatory framework (World Bank B-READY 2025); Business entry (B-READY); Public services for business (B-READY); Days to start a business (Doing Business); Procedures to start a business (Doing Business); Ease of doing business rank (Doing Business, 1 = easiest of 190).
Rule of law and legal certainty: Liberal democracy (V-Dem); Corruption perceptions score (higher = cleaner); Strength of legal rights for borrowers and lenders; Dispute resolution (B-READY).
Taxes on business: Corporate income tax rate (headline); Total tax and contribution rate on commercial profits; Taxation administration (B-READY).
Cost of capital: Real interest rate; Bank lending interest rate; Access to finance (B-READY).
Energy prices for business: Business electricity price (Eurostat, 500-1,999 MWh a year).
Growth momentum and investment trend: Real GDP growth, average of the last five years; Growth trend: last three years against 2015-2019; Foreign direct investment, net inflows.

Sources: World Bank B-READY 2025, Doing Business 2020 series, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0); Transparency International CPI; V-Dem v16; Eurostat; national tax authorities. Nestlyzer scores each measure 0–100 between the 5th and 95th percentile of the countries it covers. How the method works.