A comprehensive report on doing business in 189 countries has ranked Portugal in 25th position, ahead of France, Spain and Italy.
Leaders in the field were Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Denmark as the best places to conduct business.
The World Bank’s annual Doing Business review assesses a range of conditions such as corporate tax rates, ease of setting up or closing a business, efficiency in enforcing contracts and obtaining services such as electricity.
None of the eurozone's core economies - Germany, France, Italy and Spain - featured in the top 10. Germany was ranked 14th, France 31st, Spain 33rd and Italy was ranked 56th, below Bahrain, Rwanda and Armenia.
Portugal ranked 10th in the world for starting a new business (an average of 2.5 days) and 10th for resolving insolvency (an average of 2 years).
It was in 25th position for registering property (just one day), 27th for enforcing contracts (547 days!), 47th for getting electricity (on average 64 days), and 58th for dealing with construction permits (average of 113 days).
Its lowest ranking was 89th for obtaining credit.
Portugal was credited with two improvements in the last year - reducing the corporate income tax rate and introducing new procedures designed to speed up the resolution of civil and commercial disputes.
The UK moved into 8th position, up from number 10 last year. The World Bank pointed to corporation tax cuts and simplified company registration procedures which now need just six days to start a business.
Overall, the report said, it has become easier to do business around the world.
"Economies in the top 20 continued to improve their business regulatory environment in the past year," the World Bank said.
