Armenia ranks 89th (against 96th in 2010) among 134 major developed nations for business, according to the annual Best Countries for Business survey by influential business magazine Forbes.

The neighbouring Georgia climbed to 50th place (previously 61st); Turkey rose to 46th (previously 54th), Azerbaijan increased ranking by 1 point to be placed 78th; Russia and Iran dropped to 102nd and 125th places respectively.

Canada, the best country for business, moved up from 4th spot last year, beating out New Zealand and Hong Kong, which placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the overall rankings. The U.S. ranked 10th, down from 9th a year ago. Denmark, last year's winner, dropped from the top spot to 5th as its stock market fell 14 per cent.

Forbes ranked the countries based on 11 different factors including property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom, red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.