Switzerland leads the IMD World Talent Ranking 2018 for the fifth year in a row with European countries dominating most of the top ten. Canada was the only non-European nation in the top ten.
The IMD World Talent Ranking is based on countries’ performance in three main categories — investment and development, appeal and readiness. The three categories assess how countries perform in a wide range of areas. These include education, apprenticeships, workplace training, language skills, cost of living, quality of life, remuneration and tax rates.
Switzerland was followed Norway, Austria and the Netherlands. Norway joins the top three, advancing four places up from last year, thanks to an improvement in public expenditure on education and the readiness of its talent pool. Canada (6th), Finland (7th), Sweden (8th), Luxembourg (9th), and Germany (10th) complete the top ten.
Singapore and Australia ranked 13th and 14th, respectively, while APAC countries Hong Kong (18) and New Zealand (20) also made the top twenty.
China (39) places in the second half of the ranking, because of its difficulties in attracting foreign skilled workers paired with a level of public expenditure in education that remains below the average of other advanced economies.
“Since 2014, the Talent Ranking assesses how the 63 economies we study develop, attract and retain highly-skilled professionals,” Arturo Bris, Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, said. “Cultivating a skilled and educated workforce is crucial to strengthening competitiveness and achieving long-term prosperity, particularly in the current dynamic landscape where artificial intelligence, robotics and other new technologies constantly redefine the challenges that governments, businesses and society in general will have to face in the future.”
“This year the most successful countries in talent competitiveness are mainly European, mid-size economies. Moreover, these countries share high levels of investment in education and quality of life,” Bris said.
