Executive Summary
Table of Contents
1.1 Key Take-aways: Sustainable Competitiveness Index 2020 • Scandinavia keeps topping: Sweden is leading the Sustainable Competitiveness Index – closely followed by Iceland, Denmark & Finland, while Norway is ranked 9 • The top 20 are dominated by Northern European countries, including the Baltic states • Of the top twenty nations only one is not European – New Zealand on 11, • Germany ranks 15, the UK 17, • The World’s largest economy, the US, is ranked 32. The US ranks particularly low in resource efficiency, but also social capital – potentially undermining the global status of the US in the future • Of the large emerging economies (BRICs), China is ranked 37, Brazil 49, Russia 51, and India 130. • Some of the least developed nations have a considerable higher GSCI ranking than their GDP would suggest (e.g. Nepal, Guyana, Laos, Belize, …) • Asian nations (South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and China) lead the Intellectual Capital Index – the fundament of innovation. However, achieving sustained prosperity in these countries might be compromised by Natural Capital constraints and current low resource efficiency • The Social Capital Index ranking is headed by Northern European (Scandinavian) countries, indicating that Social Cohesion is the result of economic growth combined with a country-wide social consensus
The Sustainable Competitiveness World Map 2020
The Sustainable Competitiveness World Map. Dark areas indicate high competitiveness, light areas low competitiveness
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