Top 20 Best Countries for Doing Business in Europe
- Portugal Business News - Valerie Charoux
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
Business News Europe - Here is the ranking of the Top 20 Best Countries for Doing Business in Europe in 2026, according to a Leadfeeder report dated August 25, 2026:
Here are the Top 20 Best Countries for Doing Business in Europe in 2026:
1 - Sweden
Sweden ranks No. 1 best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Sweden is the best country in Europe for a balanced business environment and a knowledge-intensive workforce. Sweden is also the best country in Europe for Employment in Knowledge-Intensive Activities, since half (50.1%) of the Swedish workforce is in higher-value work.
2 - Denmark
Denmark ranks 2nd best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Denmark is the best country in Europe for access to Europe's most digitally advanced enterprise base. Denmark standout as No. 1 country is AI adoption as 42.0% of Danish enterprises report using artificial intelligence technologies, that is the highest rate in Europe.
3 - Netherlands
Netherlands ranks 3rd best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Netherlands is the best country in Europe for the labor market with the highest employment rate, and it has a high digital adoption rate. The Netherlands has the highest employment rate of any country in Europe as 83.4% of the population aged 20 to 64 is employed.
4 - Finland
Finland ranks 4th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Finland is the best country in Europe for selling into the most cloud-mature enterprise base, backed by strong innovation output. Finland has the highest cloud computing adoption rate in Europe at 79.2%. Finland also posts the second-highest patent application rate and the second-highest AI adoption rate in Europe.
5 - Germany
Germany ranks 5th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Germany is the best country in Europe for access to the strongest innovation output, with digital adoption that lags the leaders. Germany has the highest patent application rate of the 29 countries ranked: 779.6 per million inhabitants, that gives it the best Business Innovation & Competitiveness score of any country in the study.
6 - Norway
Norway ranks 6th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Norway has the most productive workforce in Europe.
7 - Ireland
Ireland ranks 7th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Ireland is strong for Doing Business in Europe across all metrics.
8 - Austria
Austria ranks 8th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Austria has a balanced profile for Doing Business in Europe with its main strengths being business activity and innovation.
9 - Belgium
Belgium ranks 9th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Belgium ranks in the Top 5 best countries in Europe for digitalization.
10 - Lithuania
Lithuania ranks 10th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Lithuania is the highest-ranked Baltic economy, ranking in the Top 6 countries in Europe for digitalization.
11 - Czechia
Czechia ranks 11th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Czechia ranks second-highest investment rate in Europe.
12 - Estonia
Estonia ranks 12th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Estonia is the famously digital economy in Europe.
13 - France
France ranks 13th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
France ranks in the Top 3 countries in Europe for innovation.
14 - Slovenia
Slovenia ranks 14th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
15 - Cyprus
Cyprus ranks 15th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Cyprus ranks in the Top 10 countries in Europe for innovation.
16 - Italy
Italy ranks 16th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
17 - Portugal
Portugal ranks 17th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Portugal is surprisingly strong on innovation, ranking 11th in Europe.
Portugal also ranks 4th country in Europe for trademark applications (3,460 per million inhabitants), behind only Türkiye, France and Cyprus.
18 - Croatia
Croatia ranks 18th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Croatia has the 4th highest investment rate in Europe.
19 - Türkiye
Türkiye ranks 19th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
Türkiye has Europe's highest investment rate.
20 - Spain
Spain ranks 20th best country for Doing Business in Europe in 2026.
