Key Findings
- No single city leads across all areas. Faro excels in Dispute Resolution and Business Insolvency but scores below average in Utility Services and Business Location, while Porto leads in Utility Services and Business Location but ranks lowest in Insolvency.
- All eight cities perform equally well in Business Entry, thanks to the streamlined Empresa na Hora system, allowing new firms to register in as little as 4.5 days.
- Business Insolvency shows the widest performance gap, Faro scores highest (88.1) and Porto lowest (79.8), driven by differences in court efficiency and service delivery.
- Cities perform best in Business Entry (94.2 average) and weakest in Business Location (68.5), due to limited cadastral coverage, low digitalization, and long permitting times.
- Most variation stems from Efficiency (Pillar III), particularly in Utility Services, e.g., electricity connections take 100 days in Lisbon whereas 133 in Ponta Delgada, and water connections range from 31 days in Braga to 65 in Évora.
