How open is the world's company data?

Every country runs a company register. Few make it genuinely open. This maps 218 jurisdictions by how freely you can get the underlying data, the raw material for studying where companies (and AI companies) are being formed.

Tier 1 · open bulk, free · 33

Tier 2 · company data open, people/bulk paywalled · 72

Tier 3 · restricted / paid · 113

Not assessed

Tier 1 — full register downloadable as free bulk data. The whole UK/Ireland method (formation trends, sector, survival) can be reproduced here at no cost.

Tier 2 — basic company data is openly viewable, but bulk download, directors, or beneficial owners are paywalled or restricted.

Tier 3 — register is paid or access-restricted even for basic company data, or no machine-readable register exists.

Hover a country for its register, access model, and what is available. Nuance baked in: the EU's 2022 CJEU ruling closed public beneficial-ownership access across most member states, so "directors/UBO" availability often reflects that rollback, not the country's general openness. Some Tier-1 registers ship no sector code in bulk (so AI tagging relies on company-name keywords). Federal registers (US, Canada) cover only part of the country. Source: per-country research, 2026. Tiers from global-registers.json.