EIU Country Business Environment Rankings
EIU Country Business Environment Rankings
EIU Country Business Environment Rankings
EIU Business Environment Rankings for about 80 countries. Each row is one countryCode and year, with numeric scores on a 1–10 scale (category scores) or 1–5 (underlying indicators). The overall score is OBER, an unweighted average of 11 categories such as political environment, macroeconomic environment, market opportunities, foreign investment policy, tax, financing, labour, infrastructure, and technological readiness. Query by EIU geography code, for example /US ; filter by year, for example /US/2026. date is the first day of the year (YYYY-01-01).
Category:
Macro Economics
Type:
historical
Workspace:
EDGE
Dataset Id:
EIU_COUNTRY_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT_RANKINGS
Region:
Global
Records:
984
Newest Record:
01/01/2027
Oldest Record:
01/01/2016
Updated At:
10/27/2026
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Use Cases
- Sovereign and country risk screening — rank or filter countries by political stability, corruption, and institutional effectiveness scores for macro risk models
- Market entry and site selection — compare countries on ease of trading, tax regime, labor costs, and infrastructure quality when evaluating new market expansion or manufacturing locations
- FDI and cross-border investment due diligence — assess expropriation risk, capital account liberalization, and foreign investment policy before committing capital
- Sovereign debt and fixed income analysis — combine macroeconomic environment and government debt/budget balance scores with credit views
- ESG and governance overlays — incorporate corruption, institutional quality, and rule-of-law indicators into country-level governance scoring
- Longitudinal trend analysis — track a country's business environment trajectory year-over-year to spot improving or deteriorating conditions
- Peer benchmarking — compare a target country against regional peers across specific sub-categories (e.g., tech readiness or labor market flexibility) rather than relying on a single aggregate score
- Input to quantitative country-selection or asset-allocation models — use structured, comparable numeric scores as factors alongside financial market data
Highlights
- Annual, wide-format dataset from the Economist Intelligence Unit covering roughly 80 countries and 109 indicators per country-year
- Keyed by
countryCodeandyear, with one row per country per year for easy time-series and cross-country comparison - Aggregates into 10 major category scores (each 1–10 scale) — Political Environment, Macroeconomic Environment, Market Opportunities, Policy Towards Private Enterprise, Foreign Trade and Exchange Regime, Tax Regime, Financing, Labour Market, Infrastructure, and Technological Readiness — rolling up to an Overall Business Environment (
OBER) score - Granular sub-indicators (1–5 scale) span political risk (war, corruption, expropriation risk), macro fundamentals (GDP growth, inflation, budget balance, current account), regulatory quality (bureaucracy, legal system efficiency, IP protection), labor and demographics (workforce quality, STEM graduates, language skills), digital/tech infrastructure (broadband speeds, 4G coverage, R&D spend), and physical infrastructure (roads, rail, ports, air transport)
- Updated daily as new EIU vintages are published, with
publishedAttimestamps to track revision history
Provider
Published ByEconomist Enterprise (EIU)
Methods
https://api.blueskyapi.com/v1/data/EDGE/EIU_COUNTRY_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT_RANKINGS/:countryCodehttps://api.blueskyapi.com/v1/data/EDGE/EIU_COUNTRY_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT_RANKINGS/:countryCode/:year- https://api.blueskyapi.com/v1/data/EDGE/EIU_BUSINESS_ENVIRONMENT_RANKINGS/US?from=2020-01-01&to=2027-12-31&last=20
Example API Request URL
Time Series Query Parameters
You can use any time series query parameters with this dataset.
View the full documentation →
Response Attributes
| Key | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ACER | number, null | War (scored 1-5) |
| AETR | number, null | Openness of trade (scored 1-5) |
| ASPR | number, null | Asset prices (scored 1-5) |
| ATRT | number, null | Quality of air transport infrastructure (scored 1-5) |
| BACA | number, null | Bandwidth capacity (scored 1-5) |
| BBDS | number, null | Median fixed broadband download speed (scored 1-5) |
| BBFS | number, null | Fibre broadband subscriptions (scored 1-5) |
| BBLA | number, null | Median fixed broadband latency (scored 1-5) |
| BBUS | number, null | Median fixed broadband upload speed (scored 1-5) |
| BSER | number, null | Health and soundness of banking sector (scored 1-5) |
| BUBL | number, null | Average budget balance as % of GDP (scored 1-5) |
| CALB | number, null | Capital account liberalisation (scored 1-5) |
| COLI | number, null | Cost of living (scored 1-5) |
| CPGP | number, null | Credit to private sector as % of GDP (scored 1-5) |
| CRER | number, null | Corruption (scored 1-5) |
| CTER | number, null | Corporate tax burden (scored 1-5) |
| EFLS | number, null | Efficiency of legal system (scored 1-5) |
| EPRO | number, null | Risk of expropriation of foreign assets (scored 1-5) |
| ESSC | number, null | Employers' social security contributions (scored 1-5) |
| ETRD | number, null | Ease of trading (scored 1-5) |
| EXBL | number, null | Average current-account balance as % of GDP (scored 1-5) |
| EXGR | number, null | Average annual rate of growth of exports (scored 1-5) |
| FCRT | number, null | Freedom of existing businesses to compete (scored 1-5) |
| FIRT | number, null | Policy and attitudes towards foreign investment (scored 1-10) |
| FLMR | number, null | Access of foreigners to local capital market (scored 1-5) |
| FMDR | number, null | Distortions in financial markets (scored 1-5) |
| FNER | number, null | Hiring of foreign nationals (scored 1-5) |
| FNRT | number, null | Financing (scored 1-10) |
| FRRT | number, null | Quality of financial regulatory system (scored 1-5) |
| FSER | number, null | Degree to which fiscal regime encourages new investment (scored 1-5) |
| FTRT | number, null | Foreign trade and exchange regime and controls (scored 1-10) |
| GBER | number, null | Policy orientation (scored 1-5) |
| GDCP | number, null | GDP per head at PPP (scored 1-5) |
| GDGR | number, null | Average annual GDP growth (scored 1-5) |
| GPFI | number, null | Government policy towards foreign capital (scored 1-5) |
| GVDB | number, null | Average government debt as % of GDP (scored 1-5) |
| GVFV | number, null | Government favouritism (scored 1-5) |
| GVOP | number, null | Government and opposition (scored 1-5) |
| HHWF | number, null | Health of workforce (scored 1-5) |
| ICER | number, null | Crime (scored 1-5) |
| IDER | number, null | International disputes (scored 1-5) |
| IEER | number, null | Political effectiveness (scored 1-10) |
| IMGR | number, null | Average annual rate of growth of imports (scored 1-5) |
| INEF | number, null | Profitablility (scored 1-5) |
| INRT | number, null | Infrastructure (scored 1-10) |
| INUN | number, null | Institutional underpinnings (scored 1-5) |
| IPRS | number, null | Availability of investment protection schemes (scored 1-5) |
| IPRT | number, null | Protection of intellectual property (scored 1-5) |
| IRER | number, null | Incidence of strikes (scored 1-5) |
| ITER | number, null | Top marginal personal income tax rate (scored 1-5) |
| ITGD | number, null | IT spending as % of GDP (scored 1-5) |
| LBCP | number, null | Labour costs adjusted for productivity (scored 1-5) |
| LFER | number, null | Quality of workforce (scored 1-5) |
| LGSK | number, null | Language skills (scored 1-5) |
| LLER | number, null | Degree of restrictiveness of labour laws (scored 1-5) |
| LMRT | number, null | Labour market and skills (scored 1-10) |
| LSER | number, null | Distortions arising from lobbying by special interest groups (scored 1-5) |
| MBDS | number, null | Median mobile download speed (scored 1-5) |
| MBLA | number, null | Median mobile latency (scored 1-5) |
| MBNG | number, null | 4G coverage (scored 1-5) |
| MBUS | number, null | Median mobile upload speed (scored 1-5) |
| MERT | number, null | Macroeconomic environment (scored 1-10) |
| MNSH | number, null | Protection of minority shareholders (scored 1-5) |
| MORT | number, null | Market opportunities (scored 1-10) |
| MTRR | number, null | Access of firms to medium-term finance for investment (scored 1-5) |
| NBRT | number, null | Level of government regulation and impact on private business (scored 1-5) |
| NREN | number, null | Natural resource endowment (scored 1-5) |
| OBER | number, null | Overall business environment (scored 1-10) |
| OSER | number, null | Office space rents (scored 1-5) |
| PCRT | number, null | Promotion of competition and curbing of unfair business practices (scored 1-5) |
| PERT | number, null | Political environment (scored 1-10) |
| PIER | number, null | Institutional effectiveness (scored 1-5) |
| PISY | number, null | Average Annual Inflation (scored 1-5) |
| PPGP | number, null | GDP at PPP (scored 1-5) |
| PPRT | number, null | Policy towards private enterprise and competition (scored 1-10) |
| PRER | number, null | Price controls (scored 1-5) |
| PRRT | number, null | Degree to which private property rights are guaranteed and protected (scored 1-5) |
| PSER | number, null | Political stability (scored 1-10) |
| PTAG | number, null | Total patent applications granted (scored 1-5) |
| PTER | number, null | Quality of the ports' infrastructure (scored 1-5) |
| PXMK | number, null | Proximity to markets (scored 1-5) |
| QBER | number, null | Bureaucracy (scored 1-5) |
| QEBR | number, null | E-commerce share (scored 1-5) |
| QUPM | number, null | Quality of policymaking (scored 1-5) |
| RAER | number, null | Extent and quality of rail network (scored 1-5) |
| RDER | number, null | Extent and quality of road network (scored 1-5) |
| RDPG | number, null | R&D spending as % of GDP (scored 1-5) |
| RGIG | number, null | Global integration (scored 1-5) |
| RLES | number, null | Reliability of electricity supply (scored 1-5) |
| ROFL | number, null | Arbitrariness/fairness (scored 1-5) |
| RWER | number, null | Infrastructure for retail and wholesale distribution (scored 1-5) |
| SHWT | number, null | Share of world merchandise trade (scored 1-5) |
| SLER | number, null | Availability of skilled labour (scored 1-5) |
| SOER | number, null | Degree to which state control/ownership of enterprises distorts the business environment (scored 1-5) |
| STCC | number, null | Stockmarket capitalisation, per head (scored 1-5) |
| STEM | number, null | Percentage of STEM graduates in tertiary education (scored 1-5) |
| SUER | number, null | Social unrest (scored 1-5) |
| TAXC | number, null | Tax complexity (scored 1-5) |
| TEPS | number, null | Tech policy and strategy (scored 1-5) |
| TERT | number, null | Technological readiness (scored 1-10) |
| TNTB | number, null | Tariff and non-tariff protection (scored 1-5) |
| TPER | number, null | Orderly transfers (scored 1-5) |
| TRER | number, null | Politically motivated violence (scored 1-5) |
| TRRT | number, null | Tax regime (scored 1-10) |
| TSER | number, null | Consistency and fairness of the tax system (scored 1-5) |
| TTBP | number, null | Tech trade barriers and policy (scored 1-5) |
| VATR | number, null | Value-added tax (scored 1-5) |
| WRER | number, null | Wage regulation (scored 1-5) |
| XRVL | number, null | Exchange-rate volatility (scored 1-5) |
countryCode* key | string | EIU geography 2-letter country code identifying the country for this row. |
| countryName | string, null | Country name associated with the geography, when available. |
date* index | string | Calendar date of the business environment rankings snapshot (ISO 8601 date). |
| publishedAt | string, null | EIU publication timestamp for this vintage, when available. |
| source | string, null | Source attribution for the indicator values. |
year* subkey | string | Reporting year for the indicator bundle, as a string. |
* required
Disclaimer
Whilst efforts have been taken to verify the accuracy of this information, neither The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. nor its affiliates can accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this information.
Attribution
Source: Economist Enterprise
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