The World Bank released its 10th annual edition of Doing Business which shows the state of, in fact, doing business in 185 economies. On its ease of doing business index it is easiest to do business in Singapore followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, United States, Denmark, Norway, and the UK. Some African countries made doing business easier such as Zimbabwe that reduced start-up fees and sped up name search in databases, for example. Zambia also reduced their required start-up capital amount and Mozambique simplified its licensing procedures. You can search by country if you’re interested in seeing how they have improved or reduced the ease of doing business. Poland is the most improved economy in the past year. Of African countries, Burundi was the most improved.

As far as women in business, 39 countries made a legal move toward gender equality and yet 232 million women still live in economies where they cannot start their own business without their husband’s permission. Legally women have equal rights with men in only 45 countries out of 141 economies.