According to a new report from the World Economic Forum, the global economy is recovering well almost ten years on from the start of the financial crisis with GDP growth accelerating to 3.5 percent in 2017. European economies in particular are now showing cautious signs of recovery with the eurozone expected to grow 1.9 percent this year. That improvement can be seen in the report which ranks six European economies among the world’s top ten most competitive.
The World Economic Forum defines national competitiveness as the set of institutions, policies and factors determining productivity levels. Switzerland was ranked first overall, posting an index score of 5.86, with strong results evenly balanced across determining factors including public health, primary education and a solid macroeconomic environment. The Swiss economy is also flexible and remains highly capable of absorbing new technologies. The U.S. comes second for competitiveness after Switzerland, continuing its constant improvement in its index score since 2010. Despite its high score however, the report notes that the U.S. needs to improve its macroeconomic environment, along with health and education, both of which performed poorly.
War-ravaged Yemen came rock bottom of the competiveness rankings, recording a score of just 2.87. It was followed by Mozambique and Chad, both of which also had a score of less than three. Eight of the ten worst countries for competitiveness were in Africa. Along with Yemen, Haiti was the only other non-African nation in the bottom ten, scoring 3.22.
