Luxembourg 6th in global competitiveness ranking

(CS) Luxembourg jumped five places to reach the top ten of the World Competitiveness Yearbook, thanks to improvements to business efficiency and a more positive economic outlook in the country.

Luxembourg jumped to 6th place in the ranking, which includes 61 countries in total, and is carried out by the Swiss International Institute for Management Development. This makes the Grand Duchy the most competitive country in the EU and second in Europe, only to be outdone by Switzerland (4).

The top five also include the US, China and Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada. The top ten are concluded by Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

Luxembourg's other neighbours did not fare as well, with Belgium ranked 23rd (up from 28 last year) and France dropping five spots to 32nd place.

The ranking for Luxembourg is its best since 2008, when the country was placed fifth overall. During the financial crisis it crashed out of the top ten to 12th place in 2009, reaching its lowest ranking in 2013 (13).

The study assesses some 300 different criteria, with around two thirds of data obtained through available statistics, while the other third was collected through a survey of 6,234 international executives.

Four main factors are analysed – economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. 

Especially in regards to government efficiency Luxembourg was able to improve its ranking, from 19th place to 12th. An even more impressive improvement was obtained in the business efficiency category, where Luxembourg jumped to 4th place, up from 10th last year.

In infrastructure, there was only a slight improvement, from 23rd to 22nd place overall. The economic performance ranking meanwhile dropped from 4th to 5th place globally.

At the bottom of the overall World Competitiveness Yearbook table are Brazil, Croatia, Argentina, Ukraine and Venezuela.

For a more details country analysis for Luxembourg click here and visit imd.org for more information about the ranking.