GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) — Switzerland is the world’s most competitive economy for a ninth straight year, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) said in its annual ranking on Tuesday (September 26).
Since suffering a rare blip in 2008, when it was nudged into second place by the United States, the Swiss economy has maintained an efficient but unshakable grip on the top spot.
The World Economic Forum, the same organization that runs the Davos meeting of global powerbrokers each January, bases its assessment on twelve drivers of competitiveness, including institutions, infrastructure, health and education, market size and the macroeconomic environment, and a survey of business leaders.
According to the organization, Switzerland performs very well across these twelve factors, and has managed to put in place an economic virtuous circle, at the heart of which lays innovation, and the way it creates and uses talent.
However, after almost a decade at the top, Switzerland is at risk from complacency and populism. The ageing population could undermine the innovation miracle by shutting the door to foreign talent in one of the referendum that make Swiss law.
Besides Switzerland, the top ten remain the same as a year ago, although there is some shuffling of the order. The United States climbed over Singapore into second place, Hong Kong jumped three places to sixth, leapfrogging Japan in ninth spot.