Time required to start a business in Netherlands

Netherlands: Time required to start a business was 3.5 days in 2019. ▼ Falling

Latest (2019)
3.5 days
Change on year
unchanged
World rank
176th
of 188 countries
All-time high
9 days
in 2003
All-time low
3.5 days
in 2014
Years of data
17
2003–2019

Time required to start a business in Netherlands, 2003–2019

02468102003201120192003: 9 days2004: 9 days2005: 9 days2006: 8 days2007: 8 days2008: 8 days2009: 8 days2010: 8 days2011: 8 days2012: 5 days2013: 4 days2014: 3.5 days2015: 3.5 days2016: 3.5 days2017: 3.5 days2018: 3.5 days2019: 3.5 days

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

Analysis

Netherlands recorded 3.5 days for time required to start a business in 2019. That is the lowest value across all 17 years on record.

That represents a change of down 56.2% over ten years.

Over the whole period, time required to start a business in Netherlands peaked at 9 days in 2003 and was at its lowest, 3.5 days, in 2014.

Netherlands ranks 176th of 188 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 17 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 8.43 days 8 days 9 days 7
2010s 4.6 days 3.5 days 8 days 10

Countries ranked near Netherlands

  1. 175 United Arab Emirates 3.8 days compare
  2. 176 Azerbaijan 3.5 days compare
  3. 176 Denmark 3.5 days compare
  4. 176 Estonia 3.5 days compare

See the full ranking of 188 places →

More reference data data for Netherlands

All data for Netherlands →

Frequently asked questions

What is time required to start a business in Netherlands?
Time required to start a business in Netherlands was 3.5 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 Netherlands?
The highest recorded value was 9 days in 2003.
What is the lowest time required to start a business recorded in Netherlands?
The lowest recorded value was 3.5 days in 2014.
How does Netherlands rank for time required to start a business?
Netherlands ranks 176th out of 188 countries with data for 2019.
Is time required to start a business rising or falling in Netherlands?
Over the last ten years it is down 56.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Netherlands 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 — 17 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.