Vilnius: The Most Business-Friendly City in CEE & the Baltics

By strategically focusing on globally influential sectors like fintech and film production, Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, has solidified its position among top international business locations. For the second consecutive year, an expert panel of FDI specialists, site selection advisors, and location analysts has ranked Vilnius as Emerging Europe’s most business-friendly city. 

As a growing hub for European fintech and mobility industries, Vilnius topped the Business-Friendly City Perception Index from Emerging Europe, earning 176 mentions from experts—significantly surpassing Warsaw, which ranked second with 151. Prague, the Czech capital, secured the third spot, maintaining a top-three position since the index’s inception in 2020. 

The index offers a comprehensive evaluation of the business environments across Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the Baltics, assessing cities on eight key criteria: brand, economic potential, business climate, talent pool, smart city development, infrastructure, quality of life, and local authority support. 

"Vilnius consistently stands out in the region, excelling in five of the eight categories, including brand, economic potential, smart city development, quality of life, and local authority support," says Craig Turp-Balazs, editor at Emerging Europe. He notes that Vilnius promotes its assets effectively on an international scale, using diverse media channels to reach a global audience. 

The 2024 Business-Friendly Cities report also introduced a new perspective through geospatial analysis, providing an objective numerical comparison of cities based on metrics such as office space availability, green space, and transport access. This analysis revealed different leaders, with Brno in Czechia ranking first among established cities, followed by Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia. 

Interestingly, while Vilnius topped the perception index, it ranked only 26th in the geospatial index. Emerging Europe’s senior data analyst, Bohdan Kostiv, explains that this variation arises because the geospatial index, which measures only six categories per capita, differs significantly from the broader perception-based criteria in the main index. 

Among smaller, emerging cities, Plzeň in Czechia ranked first for business perception, while Lithuania’s Šiauliai took top place in the geospatial analysis. 

For more insights, download the full Emerging Europe report, Business-Friendly Cities 2024.