Singapore remains¹ the best country in which to run a business, according to an annual report by the World Bank.

世界银行的一项年度报告显示，新加坡仍然保持着最适合做生意的国家之称。

Singapore has topped the Doing Business report\s rankings for the past five years

The Asian nation has come top of the World Bank's Doing Business 2011 study, which rates 183 countries on the ease in which they allow firms to operate.

Judging nations on criteria²（标准，条件） such as how easy it is to start a business or get credit, the UK came in fourth place, while Chad was bottom.

Kazakhstan showed the most improvement over the past year.

Georgia has seen the biggest improvement over the past five years.

Published since 2004, the annual Doing Business report studies nine main criteria in total.

The other seven factors evaluated are - paying taxes, trading across borders, registering property, dealing³ with construction permits, closing a business, enforcing contracts and protecting investors⁴.

It does not study wider conditions including a country's infrastructure⁵, workforce⁶ skills, or security.

Hong Kong came in second place, with New Zealand third, and the US behind the UK in fifth place. All of the top five remained in the same position as a year earlier.

Out of the 183 countries surveyed, the World Bank said 117 implemented⁷（实施，执行） new business-friendly regulation between June 2009 and May 2010 - the 12 months covered for the 2011 report.
 
The World Bank said governments were reacting to global economic circumstances.

"Against the backdrop of the global financial and economic crisis, policy makers⁸ around the world took steps in the past year to make it easier for local firms to start up and operate," said the report.

It added: "While some economies have been hit harder than others, how easy or difficult it is to start and run a business - and how efficient courts and insolvency⁹（破产，倒闭） proceedings¹⁰ are - can influence how firms cope with crises and how quickly they can seize new opportunities."

On a regional basis, the latest Doing Business report found that countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia did most to make running a business easier in the 12 months covered, with 84% of countries carrying out at least one pro-business reform.

Kazakhstan, which recorded the most improvements worldwide, carried out several measures including amending¹¹ its company law, streamlining business start-up procedures, and making it simpler to get construction permits.

East Asia and the Pacific was the next best performing region, with three quarters of all countries introducing at least one reform to make life easier for firms.

Latin America and the Caribbean saw the fewest improvements, with only 47% of countries introducing one or more pro-business measures.