A new World Bank Group report finds that in the year from June 2012 to June 2013, Croatia improved its business regulatory environment by implementing reforms in five areas tracked by the report—more than in any other year since 2007.

Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises shows that efforts to strengthen legal institutions and reduce the complexity and cost of regulatory processes have paid off for entrepreneurs in Europe and Central Asia. The region has overtaken East Asia and the Pacific as the second most business-friendly after the high-income economies in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In the past year, Croatia implemented reforms in the areas of starting a business, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency. For example, Croatia made starting a business easier by introducing a new form of limited liability company with no minimum capital requirement. It made trading across borders easier by strengthening port facilities and streamlining export customs procedures. And it made resolving insolvency easier by establishing an expedited out-of-court restructuring procedure with strict time frames.

“Alongside becoming the 28th member of the European Union this past summer, Croatia continues to promote economic reform,” said Rita Ramalho, Lead Author, Doing Business, World Bank Group. “The surge of regulatory reforms we saw in Croatia in the past year is a testament to its commitment to supporting the business environment for local entrepreneurs.”

The report’s global annual ranking on the ease of doing business puts Singapore in the top slot. Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulations are Hong Kong SAR, China; New Zealand; the United States; Denmark; Malaysia; the Republic of Korea; Georgia; Norway; and the United Kingdom.

In addition to the global rankings, every year Doing Business reports the economies that have improved the most on the indicators since the previous year. The 10 economies topping that list this year are (in order of improvement) Ukraine, Rwanda, the Russian Federation, the Philippines, Kosovo, Djibouti, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Guatemala. Yet challenges persist: five of this year’s top improvers—Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, the Philippines, and Ukraine—are still in the bottom half of the global ranking on the ease of doing business.