The United States topped the rankings in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2018, being ‘closest to the competitiveness frontier’, followed by Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. At the fag end of the scale, Haiti, Yemen and Chad were the least competitive economies. The new index measures 140 economies against 98 indicators.
Competitiveness is not only associated with higher incomes, but also better socioeconomic outcomes, including life satisfaction, according to the report.The United States topped the rankings in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2018, being 'closest to the competitiveness frontier', followed by Singapore, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. At the fag end of the scale, Haiti, Yemen and Chad were the least competitive economies. The new index measures 140 economies against 98 indicators.#
The nature of countries’ adaptibility to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) will decide whether they ‘thrive’ or ‘stagnate’ and could further divide workforces and increase social tensions, the report says.
The latest report uses new methodology to understand the full impact of the 4IR, and finds factors including human capital, agility, resilience, openness and innovation, becoming increasingly important.
The index determines how close the economies are to the ideal state or ‘frontier’ of competitiveness.
The United States scored 85.6 out of 100. It scored high in business dynamism, labour market and financial system. But it still has more to do in the health pillar compared to other advanced economies, with a life expectancy of 67.7 years.
Second ranked Singapore (83.5) scored high score for openness and infrastructure. The third, Germany, is the highest placed European economy for competitiveness, with particular strength in innovation capability, business dynamism and health.
A hundred and seventeen economies still lagged behind for quality of institutions, which impacted their overall competitiveness.
There was also widespread weakness at mastering the innovation process, with 103 countries scoring lower than 50 when it comes to following through from idea generation to commercial product. (DS)
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