Which country is the best place to do business?

Singapore has been named the best place in the world to do business for a ninth consecutive year, according to an annual survey conducted by the World Bank.

The financial arm of the United Nations rated 189 nations in order of how easy or difficult it is for businesses to operate there.

New Zealand came second in the list and Hong Kong came third. The UK moved up a place to eighth and the US held steady at seventh. Scandinavia made another strong appearance with three countries – Norway, Denmark and Finland – all making it into the top ten.

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Eritrea was at the bottom of the table, followed by Libya, the Central African Republic and South Sudan.

"The list remains very similar to last year's" the report says. "Economies in the top 20 continued to improve their business regulatory environment."

According to the report, ten countries stand out as having improved the most in performance on the Doing Business indicators: Tajikistan, Benin, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Azerbaijan, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

However, the report notes: "Being recognised as top improvers does not mean that these economies have exemplary business regulations; instead, it shows that thanks to serious efforts in regulatory reform in the past year, they made the biggest advances."

Nations from sub-Saharan Africa continued to languish at the bottom of the table, but have made gains in the last year by reducing "the complexity and cost of regulatory processes" while strengthening their legal institutions.

The report concludes that overall it is now easier to do business globally, the BBC says, as both developed and emerging economies bring in regulatory reforms to help facilitate businesses.