Switzerland, Singapore, and Hong Kong have been named the world’s most competitive economies in the latest IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR), with Canada, Germany, and Luxembourg the most improved within the top 20.
The results, report, and accompanying white paper for executives paint a picture of a shifting global landscape. Regional disparities persist, fresh momentum is emerging in Eastern Asia, Western Europe, Western Asia, Africa, and South America, and government efficiency is becoming a cornerstone for long-term resilience. Efficiency encompasses agility, inclusiveness, and forward-looking policy frameworks.
“Strong currencies are emerging as an indicator of long-term success,” said Arturo Bris, Director of the World Competitiveness Center (WCC), which produced the ranking. “At the same time, the reorganization of global trade networks is exposing how accessible countries have been acting in their best interests, and consensus is revealing itself to be a good thing for economies – in stark contrast to the effects of polarization.”
Top 3 deep dive
Switzerland (first) continues to demonstrate a robust performance, a result of the country’s resilient and stable economic and societal structures. It continues to lead globally in Government Efficiency and Infrastructure, maintaining its first position in both areas.
That said, its performance elsewhere is more nuanced and moderate, with Economic Performance slipping by one position to 13th and Business Efficiency also declining by one position to sixth. Despite these minor shifts, Switzerland’s overall profile remains very strong across all dimensions of competitiveness.
Many Swiss executives, however, believe a significant portion of public sector contracts awarded by the government aren’t sufficiently open to foreign bidders. One-third of the data making up the ranking is survey-based; 6,162 responses from local executives to the 2025 WCC Executive Opinion Survey.
Singapore (second) slips modestly from its top position in 2024. Its cross-factor strength underlines a robust and future-oriented economy. With regards to Government Efficiency, Singapore drops one position to third. Under Business Efficiency, the country recorded its biggest decline, from second to eighth.
Singapore’s top rank in Economic Performance is mainly the result of high growth in GDP and capital formation, as well as notable improvements in the export of goods and commercial services. This combined drive in the Domestic Economy and International Trade subfactors is significant enough to offset the slight declines in International Investment (from second to third) and Employment (from fifth to sixth) subfactors.
The data reveals that Singaporean executives view business relocation as a major threat to the future of the Singaporean economy.
Hong Kong SAR advanced two positions to secure third place, up from fifth in 2024. Gains across all four factors of competitiveness underpin this climb. These gains reflect a broad-based approach to attracting private sector investment.
As an indication of how to improve further, executives view auditing and accounting practices in Hong Kong as less and less adequately implemented in business.
Regional exploration
Beyond the top three, both the report and the white paper signal how a significant proportion of the 69 global companies examined are actively pursuing geographic diversification, sourcing inputs from multiple regions to avoid over-reliance on any single country.
Regional economic integration efforts have accelerated as a counterbalance to broader fragmentation. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has deepened cooperation, while the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) shows promising signs of boosting intra-African trade.
All six African countries in the ranking score above the global average in economic opportunities, with two countries (South Africa 74.6% and Namibia 60.6%) in the global top 10. The continent shows consistently high concern for its education/healthcare situation (40.9% vs. a 25.3% global average), highlighting Africa’s structural development challenges.
Asia performs strongly across multiple categories, with four of its economies ranked in the global top 10 for economic opportunities, based on the highest percentages in that category. It shows above-average political differences (56.1%) and social inequalities (57.9%). The latter are probably linked to rapid development transitions and continuous structural challenges.
“The external environment is penalizing some Asian economies. The tariffs that have been imposed on Southeast Asian economies are stamping out the benefits of their good policies,” said Bris.
Eastern Europe shows one of the lowest education/healthcare concerns (17.6% vs. 25.3% global average). Latin American executives are much more concerned by political differences than the global average (81.0% vs. 57.6, respectively).
Middle Eastern executives are as concerned about economic opportunities as the global average (47.3% vs. 41.1, respectively) but are relatively relaxed about political differences (35.1% say it’s a source of fragmentation vs. the 57.6% global average).
Western Europe dominates the social divisions category (51.1% vs. 40.1% global average) with five countries in the global top 10, led by the Netherlands (71.2%). It also has the lowest economic-opportunity concerns (26.4% vs. the 41.1% global average) and non-significant levels of inequality of economic opportunities. However, it experiences identity-based polarization challenges.
Namibia, Kenya, and Oman were added to the ranking for the first time in the ranking’s 37-year history.
