Canada ranks 7th in Forbes’ Best Countries for Business ranking
For business owners, Europe may be the place to set up shop, according to Forbes’ 10th annual Best Countries for Business report. Seven of the top ten nations for businesses are in Europe, with Denmark taking the publication’s top spot.
Forbes’ list of the Best Countries for Business was decided by grading 144 nations on 11 different factors, namely: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance. Each category was equally weighted. Data came from published reports from Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, Transparency International, World Bank Group and World Economic Forum.
Canada placed 7th on the list.
At a glance stats for Canada:
- GDP Growth: 2.4%
- GDP per Capita: $45,000
- Trade Balance/GDP: -2.1%
- Population: 35.1million
- Public Debt/GDP: 95%
- Unemployment: 6.9%
- Inflation: 1.9%
Rankings:
- Trade Freedom – 7
- Monetary Freedom – 61
- Property Rights – 9
- Innovation – 22
- Technology – 18
- Red Tape – 3
- Investor Protection – 6
- Corruption – 10
- Personal Freedom – 1
- Tax Burden – 9
- Market Performance – 59
The top 10 list is as follows:
| Rank | Name | GDP Growth | GDP per Capita | Trade Balance/GDP | Population | |
| #1 | Denmark | 1.1% | $44,600 | 6.3% | 5.6 M | |
| #2 | New Zealand | 3.3% | $35,300 | -3.2% | 4.4 M | |
| #3 | Norway | 2.2% | $67,200 | 9.4% | 5.2 M | |
| #4 | Ireland | 5.2% | $51,300 | 3.7% | 4.9 M | |
| #5 | Sweden | 2.3% | $46,200 | 6.2% | 9.8 M | |
| #6 | Finland | -0.4% | $40,700 | -1.8% | 5.5 M | |
| #7 | Canada | 2.4% | $45,000 | -2.1% | 35.1 M | |
| #8 | Singapore | 2.9% | $83,100 | 19.1% | 5.7 M | |
| #9 | Netherlands | 1% | $48,000 | 10.4% | 16.9 M | |
| #10 | United Kingdom | 3% | $39,800 | -5.9% | 64.1 M |
The United States ranked 22nd on the list this year, compared to its 18th position last year. Forbes says “the U.S. is the financial capital of the world and its largest economy at $17.4 trillion (China is second at $10.4 trillion), but it scores poorly on monetary freedom and bureaucracy/red tape. More than 150 new major regulations have been added since 2009 at a cost of $70 billion, according to the Heritage Foundation.”
According to Forbes, the worst five countries in which to do business are Myanmar, Haiti, Libya, Guinea and Chad.
To see the full list, check out the Forbes feature here.
