This year's World Competitiveness Ranking, published by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), evaluates 67 economies based on over 250 indicators in 4 categories: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. The indicators are a combination of statistical data, which account for two-thirds of the final ranking, and the opinion of over 6,000 managers, which account for the remaining third of the results.
As the chart shows, the ranking covers large parts of Europe as well as North America, while leaving some areas in Latin America, Asia and most notably Africa with only four African economies rated this year. As in previous years, Europe dominates the competitiveness ranking with 6 European economies in the TOP 10, including 3 in the TOP 5.
While Asia also has 3 economies in the TOP 10, its largest economies China, India, Japan and South Korea are conspicuously absent. Instead, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong achieve the highest scores in the region, with the first of the three topping this year's rankings.
