IMD World Competitiveness Booklet 2020

social and gender equality. Moreover, the effectiveness of the health and education systems, together with the protection of the environment, have a crucial role in driving competitiveness trends.

In the following section, we review the 2020 competitiveness trends, first with our spotlight on the top 10 countries. We go on to assess the sub-regional trends at the overall and sub-factor levels. We then discuss country-level trends organized by sub-regions.

Top 10 performers

Singapore the leading position in the 2020 world competitiveness rankings. While Denmark 2 nd , Switzerland 3 rd and the Netherlands 4 th move up in the rankings (from 8 th , 4 th and 6 th , respectively), Hong Kong SAR drops to 5 th (from 2 nd ). Sweden improves from 9 th to 6 th . Similarly, Norway 7 th and Canada 8 th boost their position this year joining the top 10 from 11 th and 13 th , respectively. The UAE and the USA round up the top of the ranking, both experiencing a decline from 5 th to 9 th , and 3 rd to 10 th , respectively. is sustained by a strong economic performance centered around a robust display in international trade and investment, employment and labor market measures (e.g., compensation levels, employee training and talent attraction), public finance and business legislation. Furthermore, Singapore shows a stable performance in productivity, remains in Singapore’s position

its technological infrastructure (e.g., investment in telecommunications, internet bandwidth speed and high- tech exports) and education system. Denmark’s improvement originates in the strong performance of its economy and labor market, and its health and education systems. In addition, the country performs strongly in international investment and productivity. Similarly, Switzerland’s increase comes from the substantial performance of its economy with a robust showing in international trade. This is coupled with a steadfast display in different competitiveness aspects including its scientific infrastructure (e.g., expenditure on R&D, scientific articles published, and patents grants and applications), and its health and education systems. Likewise, the Netherlands displays a strong performance in international trade and investment. It also achieves improvements in employment with a

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IMD WORLD COMPETITIVENESS BOOKLET 2020