Forbes: The Best Countries For Business 2015
Denmark has ranked first in six of the 10 annual editions of FORBES’ Best Countries list. The country has been in the news in the U.S. lately thanks to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who holds up the nation of 5.6 million people as a model socialist utopia. The country does have one of the highest individual tax burdens in the world in exchange for its wide-ranging services, but it is very much a market-based economy.
Denmark ranked in the top
20 in all but one of the 11 metrics we used to gauge the Best Countries for
Business (it ranked 28th for red tape). It scored particularly well for freedom
(personal and monetary) and low corruption. The regulatory climate is one of
the world’s “most transparent and efficient,” according to the Heritage
Foundation.
The $341
billion Danish economy has been listless of late, growing only 1.1% last year
and likely not much better in 2015 when the books are closed. A drop in export
revenue has been the main culprit, but the foundation is in place for strong
economic activity ahead. The Danish stock market is enthusiastic about the
country’s prospects. It is up 34% over the past 12 months.
We gauged the Best
Countries for Business by grading 144 nations on 11 different factors: property
rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and
monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance. Each category
was equally weighted. The data came from published reports from the following
organizations: Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance,
Transparency International, World Bank Group and World Economic Forum (click here for more
details on the methodology).
New
Zealand moves up one spot to No. 2 (it ranked first in 2012). The $201 billion
economy is the smallest of our top 10 countries, but it has performed well, up
3.3% last year. The country offers a transparent and stable business climate
that encourages entrepreneurship. The economy is closely tied to Australia’s.
New Zealand gets high marks property rights, monetary freedom, investor
protection and low corruption.
Rounding
out the top five are Norway, Ireland and Sweden.
While the
U.S. fell in our ranking, the world’s next four biggest economies all
improved their overall standing. The United Kingdom and Japan both moved up
three spots to No. 10 and No. 23 respectively. Germany improved two places to
No. 18. China rose from No. 97 to No. 94. The communist nation’s poor ranking
can be attributed to low scores on personal and monetary freedom, as well as
investor protection and red tape.
The very bottom of the list
features a number of emerging markets restrained by high levels of corruption
and little freedom. Chad replaces Guinea in last place, a spot Guinea held for
three straight years. Chad scored in the bottom five in five of our 11
criteria. The landlocked nation in Central Africa relies on oil for more than
half of its exports. Falling energy prices have further hindered Chad, which
faces extreme levels of poverty. The rest of the bottom five includes Guinea,
Libya, Haiti and Myanmar (click here for more
on the worst countries for business).
Source: Forbes
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