The World Bank’s 2025 Enterprise Survey for Liberia has provided a detailed snapshot of the country’s formal private sector, offering fresh insights into the challenges and opportunities facing businesses as Liberia works to strengthen investment, job creation, and sustainable growth.
The survey is part of the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES), a global initiative launched in 1998 to systematically collect firm-level data on business environments across countries.
Since 2005-2006, the surveys have been centrally managed by the World Bank’s Enterprise Analysis Unit and are now conducted regularly across all regions of the world.
In Liberia, the 2025 survey covered a nationally representative sample of formal, registered private-sector establishments with at least five employees.
The study focused on non-agricultural firms in manufacturing and selected service industries, including construction, trade, transport, hospitality, ICT, and professional services. All surveyed firms were registered with the Liberia Business Registry.
According to the World Bank, the survey gathered both objective data-based on firms’ day-to-day operational experiences-and subjective perceptions regarding the business environment.
Topics examined included access to finance, infrastructure and services, labor, innovation, competition, land and permits, management practices, corruption, business-government relations, and firm performance, as well as emerging issues related to the green economy.
The primary unit of analysis was the establishment, defined as a physical location where business operations take place and where independent financial and managerial decisions are made.
This approach allows the survey to capture detailed, location-specific business conditions, even when firms operate multiple establishments.
The 2025 Liberia Enterprise Survey achieved a strong overall response rate of 94 percent, reflecting high participation and strengthening the reliability of the findings.
Data collection followed a stratified random sampling methodology, ensuring representation across industries, firm sizes (small, medium, and large), and subnational regions.
The World Bank notes that this approach improves precision and allows for meaningful comparisons across different segments of the private sector.
Survey data are weighted to accurately reflect the national business population, enabling policymakers, researchers, and development partners to draw valid conclusions about the broader private sector.
The results will be used to benchmark Liberia’s business and investment climate against other countries and to inform reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and private-sector-led growth.
The World Bank says the Liberia 2025 Enterprise Survey will serve as a critical evidence base for government and stakeholders as they design policies to reduce constraints on businesses, attract investment, and support inclusive economic development.
