Bulgaria advanced 24 positions to 44th in Forbes' third annual ranking of Best Countries for Business, published by the magazine on June 27.

Formerly called the Forbes Capital Hospitality Business, the report gauges more that 121 countries against key macroeconomic parameters such as gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, unemployment, inflation, as well as degree of innovations and technological savvy. Forbes also gives marks for degree of personal freedoms.

Bulgaria performed worse than neighbouring Romania (40), Turkey (41) or Croatia (42) but fared better than Greece (53) or Ukraine (75).

The US, top performer last year, slid three notches down to fourth to relinquish its crown to Denmark. The Scandinavian country excelled with low inflation and low unemployment combined with high innovation and technological savvy marks.

The second- and third-ranked countries were Ireland and Finland and the top five was wrapped up by the United Kingdom. Estonia proved the best country among EU newcomers making it to the last position in the top 10.

Chad propped up the table, with Zimbabwe and Syria immediately above it.