Every year the Doing Business project compares the ease of doing business worldwide based on several criteria. More than 5,000 local experts – business consultants, lawyers, accountants, government officials, and leading academics around the world, join in and provide methodological support and review. The data, methodology, and the names of contributors are publicly available online at doingbusiness.org.

Curious how China measures up globally? Here’s a snapshot of China’s aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business and on each of the ten topics that comprise the overall ranking.

Dealing with Licenses (2006)
Shown below are the procedures, time, and costs to build a warehouse, including obtaining necessary licenses and permits, completing required notifications and inspections, and obtaining utility connections.

Employing Workers (2006)
The difficulties that employers face in hiring and firing workers are shown below. Each index assigns values between 0 and 100, with higher values representing more rigid regulations. The Rigidity of Employment Index is an average of the three indices.

Registering Property (2006)
The ease with which businesses can secure rights to property is shown below. Included are the number of steps, time, and cost involved in registering property.

Getting Credit (2006)
Measures on credit information sharing and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders are shown below. The Legal Rights Index ranges from 0-10, with higher scores indicating that those laws are better designed to expand access to credit. The Credit Information Index measures the scope, access and quality of credit information available through public registries or private bureaus. It ranges from 0-6, with higher values indicating that more credit information is available from a public registry or private bureau.

Protecting Investors (2006)
The indicators below describe three dimensions of investor protection: transparency of transactions (Extent of Disclosure Index), liability for self-dealing (Extent of Director Liability Index), shareholders’ ability to sue officers and directors for misconduct (Ease of Shareholder Suits Index) and Strength of Investor Protection Index. The indexes vary between 0 and 10, with higher values indicating greater disclosure, greater liability of directors, greater powers of shareholders to challenge the transaction, and better investor protection.

Paying Taxes (2006)
The data below shows the tax that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measures of the administrative burden in paying taxes. These measures include the number of payments an entrepreneur must make; the number of hours spent preparing, filing, and paying; and the percentage of their profits they must pay in taxes.

Trading Across Borders (2006)
The costs and procedures involved in importing and exporting a standardized shipment of goods are detailed under this topic. Every official procedure involved is recorded - starting from the final contractual agreement between the two parties, and ending with the delivery of the goods.

Enforcing Contracts (2006)
The ease or difficulty of enforcing commercial contracts in is measured below. This is determined by following the evolution of a payment dispute and tracking the time, cost, and number of procedures involved from the moment a plaintiff files the lawsuit until actual payment.

Closing a Business (2006)
The time and cost required to resolve bankruptcies is shown below. The data identifies weaknesses in existing bankruptcy law and the main procedural and administrative bottlenecks in the bankruptcy process. The recovery rate, expressed in terms of how many cents on the dollar claimants recover from the insolvent firm, is also shown.

So even while it is clear to see that China is making progress, it still is no entrepreneurial paradise. If that does not hold you back, make sure to get that that competitive edge by subscribing to our free weekly newsletter.