Which Country Was the Most Competitive in 2017?

The 2017 IMD World Competitiveness report ranked Hong Kong as the world's most competitive economy with a score of 100. This is the second time the Chinese territory has achieved this top position. Hong Kong's victory as the most competitive country is based on two competitiveness indicators: government efficiency and business efficiency. Switzerland came in second with a score of 99.664, followed by Singapore with a score of 99.488.

Singapore displaced the United States from third to fourth place this year and is the only Asian country in the top 10 most competitive economies. The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States caused the country's competitiveness ranking to drop one position. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates jumped five places to tenth position from its previous ranking of fifteenth.

The IMD World Competitiveness Center, a research institution at IMD business school in Switzerland, has published this ranking annually since 1989. The survey uses 260 indicators, two-thirds of which are derived from statistical data and one-third from executive opinion surveys measuring business perceptions of issues such as corruption, the environment, and quality of life.