Switzerland tops global ranking
Switzerland is the most competitive country in the world, according to a new ranking by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), published last week, saw Switzerland at the top of the list, followed by Singapore and the United States respectively.
Switzerland has come first in the index for the seventh year running, a WEF spokesman has confirmed.
The index is part of the annual Global Competitiveness Report – an assessment of the factors driving productivity and prosperity in 140 countries.
This year’s edition found a correlation between highly competitive countries and those that have either withstood the global economic crisis or made a swift recovery from it.
The failure, particularly by emerging markets, to improve competitiveness since the recession suggests future shocks to the global economy could have deep and protracted consequences, the report says.
The report’s GCI also finds a close link between competitiveness and an economy’s ability to nurture, attract, leverage and support talent.
But in many countries, too few people have access to high-quality education and training, and labour markets are not flexible enough.
Switzerland, Singapore and the US have been nurturing innovation and talent – keeping them at the top of the GCI, the report says.
The report also says that a failure to embrace long-term structural reforms that boost productivity and free up entrepreneurial talent is harming the global economy’s ability to improve living standards, solve persistently high unemployment and generate adequate resilience for future economic downturns.
About Winnie Agbonlahor
Winnie is news editor of Global Government Forum. She previously reported for Civil Service World - the trade magazine for senior UK government officials. Originally from Germany, Winnie first came to the UK in 2006 to study a BA in Journalism & Russian at the University of Sheffield. She is bilingual in English and German, and, after spending an academic year abroad in Russia and reporting for the Moscow Times, Winnie also speaks Russian fluently.
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