IMD World Competitiveness Ranking
The IMD World Competitiveness Ranking scores about 70 economies on how well they create conditions for businesses and long-term prosperity. Published every June by IMD Business School's World Competitiveness Center in Lausanne since 1989, it is one of the two long-running global competitiveness rankings and, since the WEF paused its Global Competitiveness Report, the main one still published.
- Reliability
- Grade B · 8/12
- Ranks
- Economies
- Editions
- 38 since 1989
- Method
- Mixed
- How items get in
- Compiled by the publisher
- Status
- Active
Editions
| Edition | Published | Top of the list | On record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | June 2026 | Singapore | 70 |
| 2025 | June 17, 2025 | Switzerland | 15 of 69 |
| 2024 | 2024 | Singapore | 67 |
| 2023 | 2023 | Denmark | 64 |
| 2022 | 2022 | Denmark | 63 |
| 2021 | 2021 | Switzerland | 62 |
| 2020 | 2020 | Singapore | 63 |
| 2019 | 2019 | Singapore | 63 |
| 2018 | 2018 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2017 | 2017 | Hong Kong | 63 |
| 2016 | 2016 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2015 | 2015 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2014 | 2014 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2013 | 2013 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2012 | 2012 | Hong Kong | 59 |
| 2011 | 2011 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2010 | 2010 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2009 | 2009 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2008 | 2008 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2007 | 2007 | United States | 55 |
| 2006 | 2006 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2005 | 2005 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2004 | 2004 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2003 | 2003 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2002 | 2002 | United States | 49 |
| 2001 | 2001 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 2000 | 2000 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1999 | 1999 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1998 | 1998 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1997 | 1997 | United States | 46 |
| 1996 | 1996 | United States | 1 |
| 1995 | 1995 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1994 | 1994 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1993 | 1993 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1992 | 1992 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1991 | 1991 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1990 | 1990 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
| 1989 | 1989 | Not recorded | At the publisher |
How the ranking works
The ranking uses four factors (economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, infrastructure), each split into five sub-factors; the 20 sub-factors are weighted equally at 5 percent each. For 2026 IMD reports 341 criteria. About two thirds of the weight comes from hard statistics from international and national sources and about one third from IMD's own executive opinion survey (roughly 6,900 senior executives in 2026, per Place Brand Observer's summary of the yearbook).
Scores are rescaled so the leader equals 100. The criteria list and survey questions are revised periodically, and the economy count has grown from 46 in 1997 to 70 in 2026, so long-run rank comparisons mix real change with coverage effects.
Ranked positions: Each item has a position (1, 2, 3), with ties allowed. IMD selects economies that can supply statistics and survey responses through partner institutes (typically national research bodies or business groups). There is no public fee to be ranked, but coverage depends on having a local partner, and the full yearbook is sold commercially.
How far to trust it
Superscout grades every ranking on six criteria, each scored 0 to 2. IMD World Competitiveness Ranking scores 8 of 12, grade B.
- Transparency 1/2
- Factor structure and equal weights are public, but full criteria data are sold.
- Independence 2/2
- Business-school publisher; economies do not pay to be ranked.
- Evidence 1/2
- Mix of hard data (two thirds) and executive survey (one third).
- Stability 1/2
- Four-factor framework is stable, but criteria and coverage change over time.
- Coverage 1/2
- About 70 economies, well short of a global census.
- Track record 2/2
- 38 editions since 1989.
History
IMD has published the World Competitiveness Yearbook annually since 1989; IMD called the 2025 edition the 37th. The 1996 yearbook used eight factors, before the current four-factor structure. The United States ranked first in 1996, 1997, 2002 and 2007 in the sources used here; Hong Kong led in 2012 and 2017, Singapore in 2019, 2020, 2024 and 2026, Switzerland in 2021 and 2025, and Denmark in 2022 and 2023.
Russia and Ukraine are absent from 2021 onward in the Wikipedia table; newer entrants include Bahrain (2022), Kuwait (2023), Puerto Rico, Nigeria and Ghana (2024) and Vietnam (2026). IMD's 2024 booklet notes that the World Economic Forum stopped publishing its Global Competitiveness Ranking, leaving IMD's as the main annual global competitiveness ranking.
How it is received
Governments and investment agencies (for example Ireland's National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, Invest in Holland and the UAE government portal) publish and track their IMD rank each year, and the ranking is widely reported in Asian and Gulf media.
Critics question the concept more than the arithmetic. An article in The Conversation argued that IMD uses 'competitiveness' loosely, conflating price competitiveness with prosperity, that competitiveness gains are zero-sum in a closed world economy, and that survey items on 'reform' tilt results toward austerity and labor deregulation. The one-third weight on executive opinion also means results partly reflect business sentiment in each economy.
Strengths
- Long annual series since 1989 with a consistent June release.
- Two thirds of the weight comes from hard statistical data.
- Factor and sub-factor results help explain why an economy moved.
- No fee for economies to be included.
Weaknesses
- One third of the score comes from executive opinion surveys.
- Covers only about 70 economies, skewed toward richer ones with partner institutes.
- Full data and historical tables are behind a paid database.
- Score ties at the top make small rank moves hard to interpret.
Open questions
Facts not verified yet. They stay visible so they are not mistaken for settled facts.
- Exact 2026 release date not confirmed (IMD says June 2026; IMD's LinkedIn release post is dated 2026-06-18).
- Order of tied 2026 scores (UAE/Denmark/Ireland at 94.1; Japan/Kuwait; Czech Republic/Lithuania; France/New Zealand) not verified against IMD's table.
- 2025 ranks 16 to 69 not found in a readable public source.
- Editions 1989 to 1995, 1998 to 2001, 2003 to 2006, 2008 to 2011, 2013 to 2016 and 2018: leaders, field sizes and dates not sourced; exact release dates for 1997 to 2024 not sourced (year precision used).
- Wikipedia's table only lists economies still ranked recently (plus Russia and Ukraine); the 1997 to 2020 columns have gap-free ranks matching plausible field sizes, but economies dropped before 2024 other than Russia and Ukraine could be missing. The 2021 column is visibly incomplete.
- Author and date of The Conversation critique not captured.
Superscout describes IMD World Competitiveness Ranking independently from the publisher’s own pages and outside coverage, linked below. The rankings belong to IMD World Competitiveness Center (IMD Business School).
Sources and known limits
Last reviewed .
- 2026 World Competitiveness Ranking, IMD
- IMD World Competitiveness Booklet 2025
- NCPC Bulletin 25-4: IMD World Competitiveness Rankings 2025
- World Competitiveness Yearbook (Wikipedia)
- Ranked: The World's Most Competitive Economies in 2026 (Visual Capitalist)
- Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland Lead 2026 World Competitiveness Rankings (Merxwire)
- Statbase: World competitiveness ranking
- IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2026: Key Findings (Place Brand Observer)
- World Competitiveness Ranking 2026: How did APAC economies perform
- 1996 World Competitiveness Yearbook Released; U.S. Ranks First (SSTI)
- World competitiveness rankings: what do they tell us? (The Conversation)
- IMD World Competitiveness Booklet 2024 (hosted by InvestChile)