Doing Business 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 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.

In a series of annual reports Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over time. The data set covers 46 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Latin America and the Caribbean, in East Asia and the Pacific, in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in the Middle East and North Africa and in South Asia, as well as OECD high - income economies.

The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where and why.