Goal 8 - Decent work and economic growth

Business Ready Index (B-READY) assesses the environment of individual national economies, focusing on three pillars:
1. regulatory framework – evaluation of the quality and transparency of legal regulations governing business,
2. public services – evaluation of institutions and support programs directed aimed directly at firms and markets,
3. operational efficiency – the ease and efficiency with which the regulatory framework and public services function in daily economic practice.

The Business Ready (B-READY) index, developed by the World Bank in 2024, constitutes a new global standard for assessing the business environment, replacing the former Doing Business ranking. B-READY provides a comprehensive spectrum of evaluation for the business environment—not only from the perspective of benefits to individual firms but also by incorporating the interests of workers, consumers, and environmental protection. The B-READY methodology is anchored in striking a balance across four key areas:
• between the ease of conducting business and broader social and market benefits,
• between the quality of regulations (regulatory framework) and institutional support (public services),
• between the law on the books (de jure) and its practical implementation (de facto),
• between the representativeness of local data and its international comparability.

B-READY focuses on ten topics, structured around the lifecycle of a firm and its stages of market participation (from opening, through ongoing operation and expansion, to eventual reorganization or closure). These include:
1. Business Entry
2. Business Location
3. Utility Services
4. Labor
5. Financial Services
6. International Trade
7. Taxation
8. Dispute Resolution
9. Market Competition
10. Business Insolvency

Within each of these areas, three cross-cutting themes are additionally examined: digitalization (the adoption of digital technologies), environmental sustainability, and gender equality.

Based on the collected data, B-READY generates scores for individual topics, which are then aggregated into three main pillars:
• regulatory framework (quality of regulations),
• public services (infrastructure and institutional support),
• operational efficiency (efficiency of the system in practice).

The index bridges the analysis of legal regulations (de jure) with the assessment of market realities (de facto). Legal data are gathered through centralized consultations with experts (lawyers, advisors). Meanwhile, data on the practical functioning of business (de facto) are derived from both expert questionnaires and representative, nationwide surveys conducted directly among operating firms (Enterprise Surveys).