Israel is ranked 20th out of 55 countries in the World Competitiveness Rankings of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), one place higher than the year before. The rankings are based on 331 variables collated from business organizations around the world. Israel swapped places with the UK, which was ranked 20th last year and slipped to 25th place.
The US is ranked number one, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. Venezuela was ranked last.
The World Competitiveness Rankings organizes the variables into four main groups: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure. Israel was ranked 27th in economic performance, six places higher than last year; 21st in government efficiency, up four places; 16th in business efficiency, the same as last year; and 14th in infrastructures, also the same as last year.
Israel is ranked number one in R&D spending as a percentage of GDP, the same as last year. It is also ranked number one in public spending on education, up from sixth place last year, and it is ranked in second place in skilled manpower, compared with fourth place last year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 19, 2008
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