Chinese mainland sees big leap in world competitiveness

Hong Kong has topped the league for economic performance, infrastructure development, government and business efficiency for the second year in a row.

Screenshot of official IMD page [Photo: IMD]

The Chinese mainland has also jumped significantly up 7 places to 18th in the latest World Competitiveness report, released on Thursday.

The U.S. has been pushed out of the top three, and sits in fourth position, its lowest in five years. Switzerland and Singapore are in second and third place.

The league table is contained in the 2017 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook which evaluates economic performance of countries and regions around the world.

It's been published every year since 1989, and is compiled by the International Institute for Management Development's World Competitiveness Center, based in Switzerland. In all 63 countries are ranked this year.

Top 20 of IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2017 [Photo: CGTN]

The report uses 260 indicators, about two thirds of which come from 'hard' data such as national employment and trade statistics, with the rest from a survey that measures issues such as corruption, environmental concerns and quality of life.

According to the report, China is the most competitive country in the list with a personal GDP of just under 20,000 US dollars.

The Chinese mainland's improvement of seven places to 18th is attributed to its dedication to international trade, which continues to drive the economy and improvements in government and business efficiency, says Professor Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center.

The bottom of the table is largely occupied by countries experiencing political and economic upheaval such as Ukraine (60), Brazil (61) and Venezuela (63).