For the first time in a decade, US is crowned ‘world’s most competitive economy’. How did China do?
The World Economic Forum ranked economies of East Asia and the Pacific as generally more competitive than European countries
For the first time in a decade, the United States was crowned the world’s most competitive economy by the organisation behind the Davos economic forum.
The World Economic Forum on Wednesday released its latest global competitiveness report, which looked at 140 economies based on 98 wide-ranging social, political and economic factors. The organisation assessed a variety of metrics, including infrastructure, information and communications technology, macroeconomic stability, health, skills and labour market. Economies were given scores out of 100.
The US took the top slot with a score of 85.6, buoyed by its capacity for innovation, evident in its high scores in business dynamism and entrepreneurial culture. The report also highlighted the nation’s strong labour market and financial system.
In second place was Singapore (83.5), heralded for its infrastructure and openness as a global trading hub, followed by Germany and Switzerland, which was the top-ranked economy last year.
Hong Kong placed seventh, down one place from last year, with Taiwan in 13th place, up two slots.
Russia and China were the only emerging markets that placed in the top 50. China was in 28th place – down one slot from last year – with Russia ranked 43rd. India was 58th.