Insecure title to land prevents people
from taking full advantage of the
productive uses of the land.1 Where
people have proper title to their land,
however, they can use the property as
collateral for a loan or transfer land parcels
in which they have invested.2 And
titles can serve as a valuable insurance
and savings tool for families, providing
protection during difficult times and in
retirement. Indeed, with the protection
of secure title guaranteed by a reliable
land registration system, land can be
used to create wealth for the broader
benefit of society and contribute to
the eradication of poverty. Because
land and buildings account for between
half and three-quarters of the wealth
in most economies, having a reliable
system for registering and transferring
property titles matters.3
Doing Business, through its registering
property indicators, measures the
efficiency of property registration
systems through the time, cost and
number of procedures required to
transfer a commercial property. These
indicators do not provide information
on the overall quality of land administration
systems. This year, for the
first time, Doing Business has collected
preliminary data in 170 economies
on the reliability, transparency and
coverage of land registration systems
and on land dispute resolution (figure
7.1). Next year Doing Business will refine
the newly collected data and intends
to add a new indicator on the quality
of land administration to its current
set of registering property indicators.