Time required to start a business in China

China: Time required to start a business was 8.6 days in 2019. ▼ Falling

Latest (2019)
8.6 days
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
123rd
of 188 countries
All-time high
34.4 days
in 2013
All-time low
8.6 days
in 2018
Years of data
7
2013–2019

Time required to start a business in China, 2013–2019

1020302013201620192013: 34.4 days2014: 31.3 days2015: 31.4 days2016: 28.9 days2017: 24.9 days2018: 8.6 days2019: 8.6 days

Source: Doing Business project, World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in days.

Analysis

China recorded 8.6 days for time required to start a business in 2019. That is the lowest value across all 7 years on record.

That represents a change of down 75.0% over ten years.

That places China 123rd out of 188 countries with data for 2019, putting it in the middle of the range.

Countries ranked near China

  1. 122 Qatar 8.7 days compare
  2. 124 Afghanistan 8.5 days compare
  3. 124 Belarus 8.5 days compare
  4. 124 Benin 8.5 days compare
  5. 124 Guinea-Bissau 8.5 days compare
  6. 124 Zambia 8.5 days compare

See the full ranking of 188 places →

More reference data data for China

All data for China →

Frequently asked questions

What is time required to start a business in China?
Time required to start a business in China was 8.6 days in 2019, according to Doing Business project, World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data.
What is the highest time required to start a business recorded in China?
The highest recorded value was 34.4 days in 2013.
What is the lowest time required to start a business recorded in China?
The lowest recorded value was 8.6 days in 2018.
How does China rank for time required to start a business?
China ranks 123rd out of 188 countries with data for 2019.
Is time required to start a business rising or falling in China?
Over the last ten years it is down 75.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this China data come from?
The figures come from Doing Business project, World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Time required to start a business. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 7 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Time required to start a business
Unit
days
Source
Doing Business project, World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
188 places, 2,945 data points, 2003–2019
Last refreshed

Number of calendar days needed to complete the procedures to legally operate a business.