A World Bank Group report released this week is giving Poland high marks for regulatory reforms that have made it easier for businesses to launch and operate there.

The report, Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises, ranks 189 economies based on an analysis of regulations affecting start-ups, ongoing operations, cross-border trading, paying taxes, and insolvency resolution. The report ranked Poland 45th of 189 economies, an improvement of 3 spots from last year and 29 spots in the last two years.

“Poland's economic integration in the European Union over the past decade has been an effective mechanism in promoting sounder regulations,” Rita Ramalho, lead author of the report, said in a statement. “In 2012, Poland was the economy that had narrowed the gap with global good practices the most since the previous year. Indeed, Poland is among the 20 economies improving business regulation the most since 2005.”

Poland improved its ranking by making it easier for businesses to launch by eliminating the need to register new companies with the National Labor Inspectorate and the National Sanitary Inspectorate. The country also eased the construction permitting process by doing away with a requirement to obtain a description of the geotechnical documentation of building sites.

“Poland has made an impressive progress with easing the business environment, which is reflected by Poland's improvement in the Doing Business ranking by 29 places in the last two years,” added Xavier Devictor, World Bank country manager for Poland and the Baltic countries. “However, challenges remain and Poland should now focus on improving its regulatory systems in the areas of construction permit, insolvency, and paying taxes.”

The report, now in its 11th year, analyzed the regulatory environment using 10 indicators. The majority – 114 of 189 economies studied – showed improvements in their regulatory environments. Singapore topped the list as the most business friendly while Chad came in last. For EU member states, Denmark was ranked the highest at 5th, with the United Kingdom ranked 10th. Denmark's ranking was unchanged while the U.K. gained one slot. Also cracking the top 10 were non-EU members Georgia and Norway, ranked 8th and 9th respectively.

EU member states Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Portugal all saw slight declines in their rankings but remained in the top 50. Spain dropped six places, coming in at 52nd, with the most dramatic downgrade in ease of paying taxes.

Ukraine had one of the biggest year-over-year improvements out of all of the economies analyzed, rising 28 spots thanks to regulatory reforms implemented in eight of the 10 categories. However, the country still came in at 112th on the list.

Despite all its economic woes, Greece improved its ranking by 17 spots, landing at 72nd for this year's list. The report gave the country higher marks for regulatory reforms relating to starting a business, protecting investors, and trading across borders. Only slightly offsetting those gains was a regulation that made it tougher to pay taxes, according to the report.

The Russian Federation also improved significantly, rising 19 spots to rank 92nd on the list. The report cited regulatory reforms in starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, and trading across borders.

Not faring as well was the Czech Republic, which dropped seven spots, ranking 75th this year. The country was given lower marks for eight of the 10 factors analyzed by the Doing Business report, including a regulation that made it harder to register property. The report did note a regulation that made it easier for Czech businesses to enforce contracts.

The EU member state faring the worst in the report was Malta, which dropped three slots to 103rd of the 189 economies analyzed. Malta lost points in eight of the 10 criteria, although the report noted the country implemented a reform that made it easier to deal with construction permits.

The Doing Business report has not been without critics in recent years, as some complain the rankings don't accurately reflect fast-growing economies or take into consideration working conditions.

But World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has defended the rankings, saying they have indisputably led to regulatory reforms around the world. The report's methodology is evolving and improving over time, he said.

This year's report also says that if best regulatory practices were followed around the globe, entrepreneurs could spend 45 million fewer days each year on bureaucratic requirements.

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