Dealing with construction permits: Time (days) by country

Countries reporting

185

Highest

652 days

Cambodia

Lowest

27.5 days

South Korea

Median

137 days

Years covered

2005–2019

Data points

2,740

What the numbers show

Dealing with construction permits: Time (days) is currently reported for 185 countries. The highest value is 652 days in Cambodia; the lowest is 27.5 days in South Korea.

The median across all reporting countries is 137 days, and the mean is 153.47 days.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 24.

Over the past decade 38 countries rose and 104 fell. The largest increase was in El Salvador (up 113.8%), and the largest decrease in Ukraine (down 86.2%).

Dealing with construction permits: Time: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Cambodia	652 days	2019	unchanged	flat
2	Cyprus	507 days	2019	down 25.1%	falling
3	Venezuela	434 days	2019	up 13.9%	rising
4	Barbados	377 days	2019	unchanged	flat
5	Brazil	338.37 days	2019	down 18.5%	falling
6	Albania	324 days	2019	down 16.7%	falling
7	Argentina	318 days	2019	down 12.9%	flat
8	El Salvador	310 days	2019	up 113.8%	rising
9	Slovakia	300 days	2019	unchanged	flat
10	Moldova	278 days	2019	down 18.5%	falling
11	Lebanon	276 days	2019	up 1.1%	flat
12	Gabon	275 days	2019	down 1.8%	flat
13	Bangladesh	273.52 days	2019	down 2.3%	falling
14	Uruguay	265 days	2019	unchanged	flat
15	Romania	260 days	2019	up 34.0%	rising
16	Sudan	255 days	2019	unchanged	falling
17	Trinidad and Tobago	254 days	2019	unchanged	flat
18	Canada	249 days	2019	up 11.7%	rising
19	Slovenia	247.5 days	2019	down 15.2%	falling
20	Czechia	246 days	2019	unchanged	falling
20	Uzbekistan	246 days	2019	down 5.7%	falling
22	Bolivia	235 days	2019	up 0.4%	rising
23	Guatemala	226 days	2019	up 18.3%	falling
23	Chad	226 days	2019	up 28.4%	rising
25	Nicaragua	225 days	2019	unchanged	flat
26	Suriname	223 days	2019	down 11.9%	falling
27	Austria	222 days	2019	unchanged	flat
28	Central African Republic	219 days	2019	unchanged	flat
29	Papua New Guinea	217 days	2019	unchanged	flat
30	France	213 days	2019	up 16.4%	rising
31	Belgium	212 days	2019	unchanged	flat
32	Guyana	208 days	2019	unchanged	flat
33	East Timor	207 days	2019	unchanged	flat
34	Dominican Republic	206 days	2019	down 7.6%	falling
35	Indonesia	200.13 days	2019	up 4.8%	rising
36	Israel	200 days	2019	down 3.4%	flat
37	Afghanistan	199 days	2019	down 44.4%	falling
38	Chile	195 days	2019	down 22.6%	falling
39	Madagascar	194 days	2019	up 11.5%	rising
40	Hungary	192.5 days	2019	down 2.8%	flat
41	Latvia	192 days	2019	down 12.3%	falling
42	Dominica	191 days	2019	unchanged	flat
43	Italy	189.5 days	2019	down 13.5%	falling
44	Zambia	188 days	2019	down 9.2%	falling
45	Kiribati	185 days	2019	unchanged	flat
46	Angola	184 days	2019	down 33.1%	falling
46	Tanzania	184 days	2019	down 14.8%	falling
46	Yemen	184 days	2015	up 68.8%	rising
49	Lesotho	183 days	2019	unchanged	falling
50	Sierra Leone	182 days	2019	down 9.0%	falling
51	Bahamas	180 days	2019	unchanged	flat
51	Bosnia and Herzegovina	180 days	2019	down 33.1%	falling
51	Greece	180 days	2019	down 26.5%	falling
54	Malta	179 days	2019	up 7.2%	rising
55	Zimbabwe	178 days	2019	down 68.6%	falling
56	Senegal	177 days	2019	down 29.8%	falling
57	Egypt	173 days	2019	unchanged	falling
57	Gambia	173 days	2019	up 0.6%	flat
59	Ghana	170 days	2019	down 20.9%	falling
60	Togo	168.5 days	2019	down 44.9%	falling
61	Iraq	167 days	2019	down 27.1%	falling
61	Kyrgyzstan	167 days	2019	up 5.7%	falling
63	Vietnam	166 days	2019	unchanged	flat
64	Puerto Rico	165 days	2019	down 5.7%	falling
65	Russia	164.5 days	2019	down 73.0%	volatile
66	Congo	164 days	2019	down 8.4%	falling
66	Ireland	164 days	2019	up 13.5%	rising
68	Cote d'Ivoire	163 days	2019	down 73.9%	falling
69	Netherlands	161 days	2019	down 10.3%	falling
70	Namibia	160 days	2019	up 10.3%	rising
70	Portugal	160 days	2019	down 48.4%	falling
72	Kenya	159 days	2019	up 32.5%	rising
73	Belarus	158 days	2019	down 12.2%	falling
74	Tajikistan	157 days	2019	down 23.4%	falling
75	Switzerland	156 days	2019	unchanged	flat
76	Luxembourg	155 days	2019	up 1.3%	flat
76	South Africa	155 days	2019	up 1.3%	flat
78	Malawi	153 days	2019	unchanged	flat
79	Guinea	151 days	2019	down 16.6%	falling
80	Bhutan	150 days	2019	down 0.7%	flat
81	Spain	147 days	2019	down 23.8%	falling
82	Grenada	146 days	2019	unchanged	flat
82	Croatia	146 days	2019	down 67.6%	falling
84	San Marino	145.5 days	2019	up 0.7%	falling
85	Antigua and Barbuda	144 days	2019	up 4.3%	flat
85	Equatorial Guinea	144 days	2019	unchanged	flat
87	Guinea-Bissau	143 days	2019	up 11.7%	rising
88	Belize	142 days	2019	unchanged	flat
89	Fiji	141 days	2019	unchanged	flat
90	Jamaica	140.5 days	2019	down 21.9%	falling
91	Maldives	140 days	2019	unchanged	flat
92	Costa Rica	138 days	2019	down 31.7%	falling
93	Mongolia	137 days	2019	down 37.2%	falling
93	Peru	137 days	2019	down 30.5%	falling
93	Poland	137 days	2019	down 48.9%	falling
96	Ethiopia	136 days	2019	down 4.2%	flat
97	Tunisia	133 days	2019	up 52.9%	rising
98	Colombia	132 days	2019	up 15.8%	falling
98	Ecuador	132 days	2019	unchanged	flat
98	Honduras	132 days	2019	up 17.9%	falling
101	Algeria	131 days	2019	down 39.9%	falling
101	South Sudan	131 days	2019	up 5.6%	rising
103	Iran	130 days	2019	up 30.0%	volatile
104	Cameroon	126 days	2019	down 44.5%	falling
104	Germany	126 days	2019	unchanged	falling
106	Oman	125 days	2019	down 8.8%	falling
107	Pakistan	124.9 days	2019	down 55.6%	falling
108	Mali	124 days	2019	down 33.7%	falling
109	Vanuatu	123 days	2019	up 108.5%	rising
110	Democratic Republic of Congo	122 days	2019	down 49.0%	falling
111	Burkina Faso	121 days	2019	down 7.6%	falling
111	Paraguay	121 days	2019	down 56.0%	falling
113	Australia	120.5 days	2019	up 7.6%	falling
114	Philippines	120 days	2019	down 7.0%	falling
115	Mozambique	118 days	2019	down 51.2%	falling
115	Nepal	118 days	2019	down 15.7%	falling
117	Sweden	117 days	2019	down 20.4%	falling
118	Azerbaijan	116 days	2019	down 43.1%	falling
118	Saint Lucia	116 days	2019	unchanged	falling
118	Eswatini	116 days	2019	unchanged	flat
121	Seychelles	113 days	2019	down 18.1%	falling
121	Thailand	113 days	2019	down 33.9%	falling
121	Uganda	113 days	2019	down 22.1%	falling
124	China	110.88 days	2019	down 71.6%	falling
125	Norway	109.5 days	2019	down 53.5%	falling
126	Japan	108.35 days	2019	down 36.3%	falling
127	Palestine	108 days	2019	down 0.9%	flat
128	Comoros	107 days	2019	unchanged	flat
129	India	106.22 days	2019	down 47.4%	falling
130	Saint Kitts and Nevis	105 days	2019	unchanged	flat
130	Panama	105 days	2019	down 11.0%	falling
132	Nigeria	104.79 days	2019	down 15.5%	falling
133	Mauritania	104 days	2019	down 32.0%	falling
134	Estonia	103 days	2019	unchanged	flat
134	Kuwait	103 days	2019	down 43.7%	falling
136	Kazakhstan	102.5 days	2019	down 57.5%	falling
137	Botswana	102 days	2019	down 48.7%	falling
137	Montenegro	102 days	2019	down 55.5%	falling
139	Cape Verde	101 days	2019	down 37.3%	falling
140	Saudi Arabia	100 days	2019	down 18.7%	falling
140	Turkey	100 days	2019	down 28.1%	falling
142	Serbia	99.5 days	2019	down 70.6%	falling
143	Armenia	99 days	2019	down 40.0%	falling
143	Solomon Islands	99 days	2019	unchanged	flat
145	Niger	98 days	2019	down 68.9%	falling
146	Bulgaria	97 days	2019	down 10.2%	falling
146	Haiti	97 days	2019	down 19.8%	falling
146	Rwanda	97 days	2019	down 45.5%	falling
149	Mauritius	95.5 days	2019	down 61.5%	falling
150	New Zealand	93 days	2019	unchanged	flat
151	Laos	92 days	2019	up 10.8%	rising
151	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	92 days	2019	up 12.2%	rising
153	North Macedonia	91 days	2019	down 30.5%	falling
154	Palau	90 days	2019	unchanged	flat
155	Benin	88 days	2019	down 72.2%	falling
155	Myanmar	88 days	2019	down 5.4%	flat
157	Qatar	87.5 days	2019	up 41.1%	rising
158	Liberia	87 days	2019	unchanged	falling
158	Syria	87 days	2012	unchanged	flat
160	United Kingdom	86 days	2019	down 14.0%	falling
160	Sri Lanka	86 days	2019	down 51.4%	falling
162	Micronesia (country)	85 days	2019	unchanged	flat
163	Iceland	84 days	2019	unchanged	falling
164	Brunei	83 days	2019	down 25.2%	falling
165	Mexico	82.12 days	2019	down 49.6%	falling
166	Taiwan	82 days	2019	down 40.6%	falling
167	United States	80.6 days	2019	up 36.6%	rising
168	Tonga	77 days	2019	up 22.2%	rising
169	Lithuania	74 days	2019	down 53.9%	falling
170	Ukraine	72.5 days	2019	down 86.2%	volatile
171	Bahrain	71 days	2019	down 59.2%	falling
172	Burundi	70 days	2019	down 48.5%	falling
173	Hong Kong	69 days	2019	down 12.7%	volatile
174	Sao Tome and Principe	67 days	2019	down 69.7%	volatile
175	Jordan	66 days	2019	down 1.5%	falling
176	Finland	65 days	2019	up 1.6%	flat
177	Denmark	64 days	2019	unchanged	flat
178	Georgia	63 days	2019	down 30.4%	falling
179	Morocco	58 days	2019	down 44.8%	falling
180	Samoa	57 days	2019	unchanged	flat
181	United Arab Emirates	47.5 days	2019	down 2.1%	falling
182	Malaysia	41 days	2019	down 84.3%	volatile
183	Marshall Islands	38 days	2019	down 28.3%	falling
184	Singapore	35.5 days	2019	up 1.4%	falling
185	South Korea	27.5 days	2019	up 1.9%	falling

Regions and income groups

Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.

Kosovo 237 days

About this data

Indicator: Dealing with construction permits: Time (days)
Unit: days
Source: World Bank
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 187 places, 2,740 data points, 2005–2019
Last refreshed: 10 August 2026

The time captures the median duration that local experts indicate is necessary to complete a procedure in practice. It is calculated in calendar days. The time estimates of all procedures are added to calculate the total time required to complete each procedure, taking into account simultaneity of processes. It is assumed that the minimum time required for each procedure is one day, except for procedures that can be fully completed online, for which the time required is recorded as half a day.