Doing Business used a number of variables to characterize a country. Among them:

Gross national income (GNI) per capita

Doing Business 2020 reports 2018 income per capita as published in the World Bank’s World Development Indicators on July 1, 2019. Income is calculated using the Atlas method (in current U.S. dollars). For cost indicators expressed as a percentage of income per capita, 2018 gross national income (GNI) per capita in current U.S. dollars is used as the denominator. GNI data based on the Atlas method were not available for The Bahamas; Barbados; Iceland; the Islamic Republic of Iran; San Marino; Somalia; South Sudan; the Syrian Arab Republic; Taiwan, China; and República Bolivariana de Venezuela. In these cases, GDP or GNP per capita data and growth rates from other sources, such as the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook database and the Economist Intelligence Unit, were used.

Region and income group

Doing Business uses the World Bank regional and income group classifications. Regional averages presented in figures and tables in the Doing Business report include economies from all income groups (low, lower middle, upper middle and high income), though high-income OECD economies are assigned the “regional” classification OECD high income.

Population

Doing Business 2020 reported midyear 2018 population statistics as published in World Development Indicators on July 1, 2019.

Additional development data and statistics are available from the World Bank. For main Doing Business indicators by economy, click on the economy name.