The goal of the Bureaucracy Index is to measure how much time businesses in different countries must devote to bureaucracy. The index was launched in 2017 by the INESS economic research center in Slovakia. In Lithuania, the study is carried out by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute together with partners. It evaluates how many hours per year a small company with four employees and about €100,000 in annual turnover—engaged in manufacturing metal products—spends on bureaucratic obligations.

271 hours, or just under 34 working days—that’s how much time small Lithuanian companies needed on average in 2020 for administrative formalities: filling out tax returns, statistical reports, ensuring occupational safety requirements, and fulfilling other obligations. These results come from the international Bureaucracy Index 2020, in which Lithuania’s situation has been assessed for three years running.

“Administrative burden is the time and money needed to read and understand the requirements set out in laws and numerous subordinate regulations, to adapt to them, and to fulfill them. It always means additional staff, more cumbersome processes within companies, and a financial burden. The smaller the company, the harder this burden is to bear. That’s why every decision that improves conditions for working and creating is significant. By reducing paperwork, people could devote their energy and time to productive work, new products, and creating prosperity. And that means faster progress toward the GDP growth we all desire,” says Elena Leontjeva, President of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute.