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RANKING

Sweden climbs in competitiveness rankings

Sweden has ranked second in the World's Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011, falling behind Switzerland, but leaping ahead of Singapore and the US.

Sweden climbs in competitiveness rankings

Sweden jumped two places ahead of its ranking last year and remained the top Nordic country, with Finland seventh, Denmark ninth, Norway 14th and Iceland 31st. The US slipped to fourth from second, while the UK came in 12th.

“The country benefits from the world’s most transparent and efficient public institutions, with very low levels of corruption and undue influence and a government that is considered to be one of the most efficient in the world,” the report wrote.

Sweden’s strong auditing and reporting standards and focus on education have developed a sophisticated business culture, the report added.

The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the executive opinion survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the WEF together with its network of partner institutes.

The newest survey has expanded to include 139 countries from the previous 133.

Under the institutions indicator, Sweden topped the rankings in intellectual property protection, efficiency of legal framework in challenging regulations, ethical behaviour of firms, efficacy of corporate boards and protection of minority shareholders’ interests.

Other areas where Sweden excelled included the quality of its overall infrastructure, quality of railroad infrastructure and effectiveness of anti-monopoly policy.

In terms of IT and planning, Sweden was praised for the availability of the latest technologies, broadband internet subscriptions, willingness to delegate authority and company spending on R&D.

Areas cited as the most problematic for doing business included restrictive labour regulations, tax rates, tax regulations, access to financing and inadequate supply of infrastructure.

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UN

Why Norway is set to lose top spot on UN development ranking

Norway regularly takes the top spot on the United Nations Human Development Index, but a new parameter is set to change that.

Why Norway is set to lose top spot on UN development ranking
File photo: AFP

The UN’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranks countries on how well they provide conditions for people to reach their potential, using parameters including life expectancy at birth, expected years of schooling and gross national income.

Norway is top of the 2020 HDI, a ranking not uncommon for the Nordic nation.

The report, which comes from the UN Development programme (UNDP), ranks countries in relation to progress on the UN’s global development targets. Like it was this year, Norway is regularly ranked the world’s top nation by the UN.

Despite this consistency, Norway can no longer call itself the ‘world’s best country’ based on the ranking, national broadcaster NRK writes.

A new addition to the ranking will include the costs to nature and the environment of gross national product. That will make CO2 admissions and individual carbon footprints part of the broader assessment of development.

According to the UNDP, emissions are a new and experimental lens through which to view development. But the inclusion of climate and the environment gives the index a different look.

When CO2 emissions and resource consumption are factored in, Norway finds itself in a much more moderate 16th place on the UN development ranking.

The adjusted list is yet to be published by the UN, but the Norwegian national broadcaster has been informed of the new positions, NRK states in the report.

Norway’s CO2 emissions of 8.3 tonnes per resident are among the 30 worst values of included countries, and it also fares poorly in a measurement of material resource use per resident, resulting in a lower overall position.

“Norway loses its top placing because of our high imprint on the planet. This is an import debate and it’s time we had it,” Bård Vegar Solhjell, director of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), told NRK.

READ ALSO: Norway ranked world's top nation for 'human development'

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