Wednesday, May 27, 2009

World’s Most Competitive Countries

If you plan to invest overseas, you will be interested in the world competitiveness study conducted by IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. The study, based on analysis of economic output, government and business efficiency, skills and infrastructure, ranked 57 of the world’s economies to determine their competitiveness in the economic race. Below is the partial list for the year 2009:

  • No. 1: USA (most competitive)
  • No. 2: Hong Kong
  • No. 3: Singapore
  • No. 13: Germany
  • No. 17: Japan
  • No. 18: Malaysia
  • No. 20: China
  • No. 21: UK
  • No. 28: France
  • No. 30: India

(Please click here for the full list.)


To be sure, I was a bit surprised by the rankings. Despite its rapid growth, China was given the 20th spot, two below Malaysia. According to the report, China was dragged down by concern about pollution, corruption and rising cost of capital.

India, which scored last in infrastructure among the economies studied, ranked 30th. However, the nation’s Congress Party has just scored a big victory in election, which will enable the government to push through economic reforms. Analysts and investors are already predicting a better outlook for India.

So, perhaps the ranking can only serve as a rough guideline.

One thing is sure though – USA is a highly competitive country. Having spent some time in the States, I see these characteristics among the Americans – hard-working, innovative, risk taking, highly adaptable

Despite its recent bad press, I am sure America will bounce back.


USA is number 1 in IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook


8 comments:

  1. Ya, I'm sure US will bounce back. Way too many countries are relying on it to spur their growth.

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  2. I'm not surprised France is so far down... It is living in the past. I like my former country, but I must admit I don't see a good future there.

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  3. shingo
    Despite the rise of China, US remains an important market.

    zhu
    My country is also going down :(

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  4. Hong Kong and Singapore also high rank le. Aiyo working there sure stressful.

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  5. keeyitCan't say anything about HK, but working in Singapore is definitely stressful.

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  6. Surprising Malaysia is ranked higher than China?

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  7. foongpc
    Exactly, I am surprised too.

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  8. Thanks for info. Interesting..

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